Cops: Man grew psychedelic mushrooms in girlfriend’s apartment

BRIDGEPORT — Police said a Norwalk man turned his girlfriend’s second-floor apartment here into a hallucinogenic mushroom farm.

Officers found hundreds of mushrooms and mushroom spores in the Laurel Avenue apartment along with growing equipment, police said.

James Chieffalo, 33, of Bethel Street, Norwalk, was charged with operating a drug factory, possession of a controlled substance, possession of hallucinogenic substances with intent to sell and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Superior Court Judge Peter McShane ordered Chieffalo held in lieu of $200,000 bond.

Chieffalo’s girlfriend, Hannah Redamonti, 31, was charged with operating a drug factory and possession of hallucinogenic substances with intent to sell. She was released after posting $75,000 bond.

On Thursday, members of the Bridgeport Narcotics and Vice Unit, armed with a search warrant, raided Redamonti’s second-floor apartment on Laurel Avenue.

Police said Redamonti told officers that she had agreed to let Chieffalo grow his fungi in the apartment after he assured her that it was all legal.

In a refrigerator in the apartment’s dining room, police said they found jars of a green substance that tested positive for hallucinogens, along with five bags containing a total of four pounds of marijuana, two bags containing hallucinogenic mushroom pills and numerous glass jars containing more than a pound of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

In a bedroom closet, police said they found eight boxes containing hundreds of mushroom spores. Another room had been converted into a grow lab, police said, with various mushroomgrowing equipment, including UV lights.

Police said Chieffalo told officers, “You guys have poor timing . ... I just got rid of three times the amount you see today.”