Woman charged with distributing concentrated cannabis to school kids
A young woman accused with her boyfriend of dealing marijuana to students at schools throughout the Temecula Valley was charged today with multiple felony counts, including furnishing cannabis to a child under 14 years old.
Catherine Ann Hickisch was arrested Friday alongside Anthony Harry Mathisen, both 18 and of Murrieta, following a Riverside County Sheriff's Department investigation.
In addition to the furnishing count, Hickisch was charged with two counts each of distribution of controlled substances and possession of controlled substances for sale.
She pleaded not guilty during an arraignment before Superior Court Judge Elaine Kiefer, who, at the request of the defendant's attorney, scheduled a bail review hearing for March 15 at the Southwest Justice Center in Murrieta.
Hickisch is being held in lieu of $1 million bail at the Smith Correctional Facility in Banning.
Mathisen was booked into the Byrd Detention Center in Murrieta Friday, but he was able to post a $1 million bond Saturday, after which he was released from custody.
He's charged identically to his co-defendant and is scheduled to be arraigned on April 17.
According to sheriff's Sgt. Michael Perez, last month, deputies at the Southwest Station in French Valley initiated an investigation stemming from information that cannabis "was being sold to juveniles who attend middle and high schools throughout the city of Temecula and unincorporated French Valley."
Investigators determined that Hickisch and Mathisen were allegedly selling "vape pens containing concentrated cannabis to minors,'' Perez said.
"Furthermore, it was determined Mathisen and Hickisch distributed concentrated cannabis and psilocybin -- commonly referred to as mushrooms -- using a mobile delivery service, identified as `AtomicClouds,'" the sergeant said.
Deputies obtained and served search warrants at the defendants' residence in the area of Madison Avenue and Murrieta Hot Springs Road, where "evidence related to the sales of marijuana and psilocybin was located and recovered,'' Perez said.
The pair were taken into custody without incident. Neither has prior documented felony or misdemeanor convictions in Riverside County.
