The school day was disrupted at a Colorado Middle School earlier this week after two students ingested psilocybin mushrooms they allegedly bought from a local dealer who is now behind bars.
The two Fox Meadow middle schoolers were rushed to the hospital Tuesday, Sept. 24, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Damian Lee Solano, 21, was booked into El Paso County Jail and held on a $50,000 bond.
He is charged with four felony counts of unlawful distribution of a controlled substance, one felony count of an attempted sale and four misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to police.
The King Soopers in Colorado Springs, where the kids allegedly met Damian Lee Solano in the parking lot and purchased magic mushrooms on Monday, Sept. 23, 2024.
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Christine O’Brien, a spokeswoman for District 2 Harrison Schools, confirms to PEOPLE that both students were “treated and released to family with resources to support them,” adding that the district is “supporting the students and families as they return to school and learning.”
While the school disputed the characterization of it as an “overdose,” claiming that the students “did not lose consciousness or become disoriented,” Caitlin Ford of the police department tells PEOPLE that the studentsexperienced “adverse health effects, which would be the technical definition of an over-dosage.”
Per the police blotter, during the “overdose drug investigation,” detectives learned that four children — ages 12 to 16 — had allegedly purchased mushrooms from the adult dealer.
The kids had allegedly contacted Solano through the Telegram phone app early Monday evening, and met up with Solano at the King Soopers grocery store parking lot, according to police, who say that the students later provided them with “a general physical and vehicle description associated to the dealer.”
Parents of one of the kids helped detectives recover the remaining mushrooms and provided the student’s phone to reinitiate communication with the alleged dealer, per police.
Posing as one of the students, a detective began communicating with the alleged dealer and agreed to meet for “another narcotics transaction,” per police, who say they were able to “draw out the dealer with active communication over Telegram during the undercover purchase.”
During the undercover operation, detectives allegedly spotted Solano, who they say matched the physical description given by the students.
Solano was allegedly carrying about 2 ounces of psilocybin mushrooms – as the detective had ordered on Telegram – when he was detained, per police.
Solano is slated to make his first appearance at El Paso County Courthouse at 10:45 a.m., Oct. 4, per his online court docket.
It was not immediately clear if he had yet retained a lawyer.
