Three men were arrested Wednesday for selling LSD to an undercover Central Iowa Drug Task Force agent, DPS officials said.

Louis Hardy Martin, 19, 2823 West St. #7; Clay Jones Junell, 20, Austin, Texas; and Brian Weatherly, 35, Ames, were arrested in the late afternoon at the arboretum southwest of the Iowa State campus after officers found 3,000 hits of acid in their possession.

Department of Public Safety Capt. John Tinker, manager of the Central Iowa Drug Task Force, said the amount of LSD seized had a street value of $15,000.

The amount of confiscated LSD was one of the biggest drug busts ever by the task force, Tinker said.

“It was one of the largest LSD seizures we’ve made in the area,” he said. “Anytime you can take that much LSD off the streets, it’s encouraging.”

Tinker said the suspects are being held at the Ames City Jail and have been charged with possession of LSD with intent to deliver, a class B felony punishable by up to 50 years in jail and a $1 million fine.

The arrests culminated a two-month undercover sting by the Central Iowa Drug Task Force, which includes officers from DPS, Ames Police, Story County Sheriff’s Office and Boone County Sheriff’s Office.

Tinker said the officer to whom the acid was sold had gotten to know the suspects and infiltrated their operation.

Task force officers also served a search warrant on Martin’s West Street apartment, but the search uncovered nothing, he said.

Carisa Ralph, senior in animal science and resident of the apartment complex, said she was there when the search warrant was executed.

“I noticed a guy wearing all black, and then I realized he was wearing riot gear,” she said. “There were three officers with bullet-proof vests on and shielded helmets.”

Ralph, who lives one story below Martin’s apartment, said she never noticed anything unusual from the tenants in apartment #7.

“I think they had a lot of pets,” she said. “Other than that, I didn’t notice anything.”

Tinker said members of the task force believe Martin, Junell and Weatherly were trafficking LSD from the southwestern United States to the Ames area, flooding the city with an unusual amount of acid.

“We see a little bit of LSD now and then,” he said. “However, in the last few months, it has seemed to be a little more prevalent. Hopefully, these arrests will take care of that.”