Festival-goer faces fake-drugs rap

MANCHESTER, Tennessee — A man accused of taking more than 1,000 doses of fake drugs to the Bonnaroo music festival said he was doing “God’s work” with the bogus substances, Tennessee authorities said.

David Brady of Albany, New York, has been charged with two counts of counterfeit controlled substances, the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department said.

Brady, 45, is accused of attracting the attention of deputies after they spotted what looked like drugs under a tent. The deputies saw Brady toss the item behind him as they approached, and he appeared to have a bag of mushrooms hanging from his waist band as he stood up, Lucky Knott, a spokesman for the sheriff’s department, said. Items Brady had taken to the music festival included pills made to look like ecstasy, 22 bags of fake mushrooms, about 1,000 hits of fake acid and counterfeits made to look like cocaine and an incense stick of black tar heroin.

Brady told the deputies that he was doing God’s work by selling fake drugs, but the arrest warrant doesn’t elaborate.

Brady is being held in the Coffee County jail.

He is wanted in Franklin County, Arkansas, after failing to appear in court and is also charged with being a fugitive from justice. It was not clear why he is wanted in Arkansas.

Bonnaroo is an annual four-day music festival on a 700-acre farm about 97 kilometres southeast of Nashville.