By F. Scott Faulkner
December 8, 2025 – Ventura County, CA
A drug delivery scheme targeting Ventura County teens unraveled on the afternoon of December
4.
Investigators arrested Benjamin Marcus, 19, of Ventura after a monthlong
probe into illicit sales circulating through local schools.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Det. Anna Wypchlak, detectives
with the Ventura County Fentanyl and Overdose Crimes Units began tracking the case in
November, when “information pointed to a delivery operation” quietly moving psilocybin
mushrooms, LSD, ketamine, marijuana and even nicotine products “into the hands of juveniles
and young adults.” Investigators followed the trail across “multiple social media and messaging
platforms,” eventually identifying Marcus as the individual behind the service.
By December 4, the team had gathered enough evidence to secure a search warrant. That
afternoon, officers moved in at a location in Ventura and took Marcus into custody “without
incident.” Inside the residence, detectives discovered “73 marijuana vape devices, several
containers of nicotine solution, a single LSD tablet, small quantities of marijuana wax and
ketamine,” along with “more than$35,000 in cash believed to be tied to drug
sales.”
Marcus was booked into the Ventura County Jail on charges of possession of a controlled
substance for sale, furnishing a controlled substance, possession of marijuana for sale and sale or
transportation of marijuana.
