Shroom House Manager Pleads Guilty to Three Felonies

Jeramiahs Geronimo was charged with money laundering and drug dealing. Prosecutors dropped the remaining 37 charges.

Shroom House (Mick Hangland-Skill)

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 so near a school.

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

Shroom House became on overnight sensation in Portland after media outlets disclosed what was on the Burnside storefront’s menu: a half-dozen strains of psychedelic mushrooms priced around $10 to $15 a gram. It operated for over a month before being raided by the Portland Police Bureau’s Narcotics and Organized Crime Unit on Dec. 8.

At Geronimo’s arraignment, his attorney said he had traveled to Oregon to run the shop from his home in Texarkana, Texas—and received paychecks of less than $1,500 for his trouble.

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

In an unusual maneuver, Geronimo chose to testify before the grand jury. The jury indicted Geronimo and Tachie on 40 felony charges each last week—but prosecutors then 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 scheduled to appear in court in January.

Tachie’s charges have not been dropped. He’s claimed to have no knowledge of illegal shroom sales at his store. Yesterday, he posted $150,000 in bail and was released from jail.

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

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