KINGMAN – A veteran firefighter was arrested Thursday after Homeland Security agents made a controlled delivery of 25 pounds of dimethyltryptamine, a club drug commonly known as DMT, to his home in Kingman. Mohave County Sheriff’s Detective Aaron Devries testified Friday that Alexander Muchow, 29, was detained as he tried to flee out the back of his residence at 3965 Walleck Ranch Road.
A probable cause statement filed in Kingman Justice Court said the drugs were purchased from the Netherlands via the internet and that the address delivery slip bore Muchow’s name. It said a search warrant was obtained for the home after officers detected a drug lab operation in progress.
The statement said three more kilograms of DMT was located in the home and that field tests conducted by federal agents indicated the product contained a high dosage of LSD. LSD tablets and an undisclosed amount of hallucinogenic mushrooms were also confiscated, according to prosecutor Reed Weisberg.
Addressing Justice of the Peace John Taylor during an initial hearing Friday, Weisberg said officers made a rare find in the back yard of the property. He said the discovery included more than 100 cacti in different stages of growth.
Devries testified that the plants are San Pedro cacti, the type that are used to produce peyote and mescalin. He said several cacti had been cut and were in different stages of process and drying.
“We don’t see this very often, ever,” Weisberg told the Court. He said the case remains under investigation but indicated there’s suspicion the drug production operation involved distribution far beyond the local community.
Devries said the street value of all of the drugs seized is $3.5-million.
Judge Taylor ordered that Muchow be held on a secured bond of $100,000.
Muchow is a firefighter and paramedic who has ten years of service with the Northern Arizona Consolidated Fire District. Muchow has been placed on administrative leave, pending the ongoing investigation.
