Shroom House director pleads guilty to three crimes

On Monday, the manager of Shroom House, the illegal psychedelic mushroom shop on West Burnside Street, pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering, selling drugs and doing it near a school.

Prosecutors are recommending Jeramiahs Geronimo, 42, be sentenced to 10 days in jail, 80 hours of community service and three years of probation, according to a plea document filed in court yesterday. The plea was first reported by The Oregonian.

Shroom House caused an overnight sensation in Portland after the media revealed what was on the menu at the Burnside store: half a dozen varieties of psychedelic mushrooms priced at around $10-15 a gram. It operated for more than a month before being raided by the Portland Police Bureau’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit on December 8.

During his arraignment, Geronimo’s attorney said he traveled to Oregon to run the shop from his home in Texarkana, Texas, and received paychecks for less than $1,500. dollars for his troubles.

During a series of undercover purchases in early December, police observed Geronimo withdrawing and depositing cash at the store’s ATM. They once saw him making “stealthy gestures” after leaving the store with a “large backpack”, according to court documents. After his arrest, he admitted to working at the store since it opened in October and identified Tachie as his boss.

In an unusual move, Geronimo opted to testify before the grand jury. The jury charged Geronimo and store owner Steven Tachie Jr. with forty felony charges last week, but prosecutors later dropped 37 of Geronimo’s charges on Monday. Two other store employees, Ivan Mamethev of Scappoose and Victor Fabela of Southwest Portland, also face felony charges and are due in court in January.

Tachie’s charges were not dropped. He claims to have no knowledge of illegal mushroom sales in his store. Yesterday he posted $150,000 bond and was released from jail.

On his release form, he listed Coquitlam, a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, as his home address. He now lives in an Airbnb in the Portland area, his attorney says. Tachie’s next court date is scheduled for January 30.