Maine judge’s son, 19, faces R.I. drug charges

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Brown University summer student was ordered held without bail Tuesday in Providence District Court on a drug charge after a campus seizure of chocolate-covered hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Ryan Stitham, 19, of Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, was charged with felony possession with intent to deliver narcotics. A university detective stopped him two weeks ago following a tip that said the student was carrying a bag filled with nearly 50 pounds of the packaged mushrooms and nearly $13,000 in cash. The illegal drugs were valued by police at about $37,000.

“Given the amount of drugs found by police, he was held without bail,” said Mike Healey, spokesman for Attorney General Patrick Lynch.

Stitham’s father, Kevin Stitham, is a Maine District Court judge in Piscataquis County, The Providence Journal reported.

The mushrooms are treated with the hallucinogen, dipped in chocolate and frozen in an ice-cube tray, Providence police narcotics Lt. Thomas Verdi said. “They look and smell like candy.”