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Trident spears parents during son’s drug bust

Scott Condon
Aspen Times Staff Writer

A midvalley couple was arrested earlier this month when their alleged personal stash of drugs was discovered in their home by cops targeting their son in an unrelated drug case.

Officers with the Two Rivers Drug Enforcement Team, known as Trident, were investigating Hayden B. Laybourn, 21, of Missouri Heights, for allegedly selling marijuana and cocaine.

During the course of their investigation, they executed a search warrant in the Missouri Heights home where he lives with his parents, Royal and Lezlie Laybourn, according to court documents.



During that search, officers entered the bedroom of the parents and uncovered small amounts of marijuana and psilocybin mushrooms in dresser drawers. They charged both parents with possession of psilocybin mushrooms, possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Royal Laybourn, 46, is a well-known activist in midvalley civic and political issues. He and Lezlie, 46, are also midvalley business owners. Royal Laybourn declined comment yesterday on the advice of his attorney, Walt Brown. Brown said he couldn’t comment at this time because he was just learning the facts of the case.




Affidavits for arrest warrants that were filed in Eagle County Court by Trident officers indicate that the parents were inadvertently snared in the investigation.

A Trident officer was contacted on Aug. 8 by a confidential informant who claimed Hayden Laybourn was selling “a lot” of marijuana and had started selling cocaine, according to the arrest affidavit. Hayden Laybourn usually made prearranged sales at the Cowen Center in Carbondale, the informant reported.

The informant worked with Trident officers on a later date to allegedly arrange a drug purchase from Hayden Laybourn. The informant called him at about 9:25 p.m. on the telephone and allegedly ordered cocaine. He was given $320 of marked money and fitted with a wireless transmitter, according to the arrest affidavit.

When Hayden Laybourn called the informant back at 10:35 p.m. he allegedly said he was too messed up to drive and that the informant must come to his house to complete the deal. The informant drove there with an undercover officer, who waited in the car, and allegedly purchased two “eight-balls” of cocaine.

The informant reported that Hayden Laybourn allegedly told him he expected some marijuana “to be coming anytime now” and he asked him if he knew anyone that was looking to buy.

Trident officers got a search warrant signed by Eagle County District Judge Richard Hart and executed it at the Laybourn house at 10:25 p.m. Aug. 20.

Trident is drug task force composed of officers from the Glenwood Springs, Carbondale, Rangely and Rifle police departments along with the sheriff’s offices of Garfield and Rio Blanco counties. The Eagle County Crime Response Team helped with the search.

Officers first entered an “attached living quarters” where Hayden lives. There was no indication that Hayden Laybourn or his parents were home at the time.

“Your affiant smelled the strong odor of marijuana in the room and observed a multi-colored glass bong sitting on the glass coffee table with a clear plastic bag containing a green leafy substance, suspected marijuana, laying next to the bong,” the arrest affidavit said.

Baggies of suspected marijuana “prepackaged for distribution/sale” were found in a wooden box in a dresser drawer, the affidavit claimed.

While checking an armoire, the cops allegedly found “numerous photographs of Hayden Laybourn posing with large amounts of a green leafy substance, suspected marijuana, laying in front of him,” the affidavit said.

The confiscated marijuana weighed 27.6 grams, and the cocaine amounted to less than a half ounce. Hayden Laybourn was charged with two counts of possession of cocaine; two counts of possession with the intent to distribute cocaine; conspiracy to distribute cocaine; possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana; and possession of drug paraphernalia.

While in the Laybourn home searching Hayden’s living quarters, the Trident officers went into the master bedroom and searched the belongings of his parents. The arrest affidavit said they found 12.7 grams of psilocybin mushrooms and 0.7 grams of marijuana that allegedly belonged to the parents.

The most serious of the charges facing the parents is possession of the mushrooms, a class-three felony.

[Scott Condon’s e-mail address is scondon@aspentimes.com]