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Two men accused of running an illegal shroom storefront are being charged with 40 felonies, according to a grand jury indictment handed down Friday. The charges include money laundering and distributing a Schedule I controlled substance near a school.
Steven T. Tachie Jr., the 32-year-old owner of the business, and Jeremiahs Geronimo, its 42-year-old manager, were arrested along with two other employees in a raid of Shroom House earlier this month. They’ve pleaded not guilty.
The two were held on $1.5 million bail. Tachie paid it and was released today. His attorney, Leland Berger, had told a judge that Tachie was willing to surrender his passport and that he would be living in a nearby Airbnb.
Berger acknowledged that Tachie owned Shroom House, but told WW that he has “other information” that will cast doubt on whether Tachie was aware of its criminal activity.
He said he was “disappointed” that officials opted to arrest Tachie instead of finding alternative ways to shut down the business. “If there were concerns about what was going on at the store, why didn’t they send a cease-and-desist letter and go to a judge for a temporary restraining order—instead of a search warrant, handcuffs, and a jail cell?” Berger wondered.
Officers with the Portland Police Bureau’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit seized over 22 pounds of psilocybin during the early morning raid Dec. 9. Tachie was arrested while driving to CVS to pick up some Tylenol for his 2-year-old son, according to Berger.
At a breakfast with business leaders the morning after the raid, Mayor Ted Wheeler applauded the arrests. “I want convictions. This was an illegal distribution of a controlled substance. I wanted it shut down,” he said, according to the Portland Tribune.
Geronimo, who is represented by a public defender and says he was paid less than $1,500 per month by Tachie, is still in jail. In an uncommon maneuver, Geronimo elected to testify at the grand jury proceedings.
“It’s unusual for anybody to testify at the grand jury without there being some kind of an agreement,” Berger said.
Geronimo’s attorney declined to comment on whether his client had made a deal with prosecutors. The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Shroom House had been operating for more than a month, selling psychedelic mushrooms for around $10 to $15 a gram, before it was finally shut down by the police. After its existence was outed by local news media, the line of customers extended around the block, some waiting as long as six hours.