CHICORA — The testimony was about a psilocybin mushroom operation — a location for growing illegal, psychoactive mushrooms — but the testimony bordered on complimentary during a preliminary hearing Tuesday.

“To be honest, the lab was very well organized,” said Trooper Jeffrey Tihey.

Free since posting $50,000 bond, Matthew G. Williams, 45, of Butler, appeared before District Judge Lewis Stoughton for charges including three felony counts of drug delivery, two misdemeanor counts of drug possession and one misdemeanor count of drug paraphernalia possession.

By the hearing’s end, Stoughton moved forward all charges to Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Police filed charges against Williams in August 2021 related to a search warrant executed Dec. 2, 2020.

Tihey said he had been working with a team of federal officials as they were monitoring a package that contained 1 kilo of pregabalin, a powerful pain reliever.

“The package was addressed to Mr. Williams at that address,” Tihey said.

Tihey said the package was ordered from a website that helps people acquire prescription drugs from China. He said his team had a warrant that was worded to allow them to search the home once the drugs were delivered.

Once inside, authorities found the extensive mushroom farm that used three of the six rooms in the house and the basement.

“In the basement there were mushrooms that appeared to be in their final stage of growth,” Tihey said.

Tihey said in his many years as an investigator, which has mostly focused on drugs, he has seen many mushroom operations that were smaller and disorganized.

He said this one appeared to be yielding results, and there was paraphernalia found indicating the mushrooms would be dried and packaged.

“This lab had hundreds of Mason jars, 300 to 400,” Tihey said. “They were well-labeled.”

Tihey said investigators also found another bag of pregabalin. He said when investigators interviewed Williams, he claimed the pregabalin was for personal use for himself and his wife, who struggled with addiction and health problems.

“He said they would package their own tablets and take the controlled substance,” Tihey said.

Williams’ attorney, D. Robert Marion, argued against two of the three felony counts of drug delivery, specifically those related to the pregabalin.

“There’s certainly evidence he possessed it,” Marion said. “There’s little to no evidence of an intent to deliver. There’s evidence of personal use, and they had a previous prescription.”

Assistant District Attorney David Beichner said Williams manufactured the drug by packing the powder into a pill form, and then he gave them to his wife, which constituted delivery.

Stoughton asked some follow-up questions to Beichner’s argument, but he still moved forward the charges, believing it would be a question for a jury to decide.

Williams is scheduled to appear next for arraignment Nov. 8 in county court.