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On June 8, court documents show, police busted a psilocybin grow house and major interstate mushroom and weed distribution operation in a 5,000-square-foot mansion bordering a Northeast Portland country club.
Oregon voters legalized psilocybin mushrooms in 2020 by passing Measure 109. But the measure only sanctions use of the hallucinogen in tightly regulated therapeutic settings. Such niceties have done little to discourage the expansion of a “mushroom underground,” with state-licensed therapists offering guided trips in private homes and Airbnbs. Psilocybin mushrooms are easily obtained across Portland, even after the shuttering of a retail operation, Shroom House, on West Burnside Street.
A probable cause affidavit filed in Multnomah County Circuit Court on Friday offers some insight into where that supply might be coming from—and alleges that interstate psilocybin traffickers have set up shop in Portland.
It’s not clear from the affidavit what led police to the $1.3 million home bordering Columbia Edgewater Country Club, which features panoramic views of the golf course, a “unique triple barrel-vaulted ceiling,” and parking for 16 cars, according to a real estate listing online.
When officers raided the place Thursday, they found a dark room for growing shrooms, 23 firearms and tens of thousands of dollars in cash. There were various drugs scattered around the house and U.S. Postal Service shipping boxes filled with marijuana and psilocybin, “all taped up and labeled to various locations outside of Oregon,” according to the affidavit.
The house had “a dark room with 2,017 separate bags of psilocybin mushrooms” and “lab equipment” to monitor humidity.
It also had a “prolific” amount of drugs, including thousands of orange methamphetamine pills, bottles of anabolic steroids, liquid codeine, Xanex and hundreds of pounds of cannabis. A stolen Chevy Tahoe was parked outside.
Someone had kept meticulous records of the business side of the operation, including “handwritten ledgers” with names, addresses and quantities. Much of the product was being shipped out of state, the ledgers showed.
Police arrested four men: Martin Anthony Martinez, 25; Albert Watak Vaka-Capelle, 27; Pedro Antonio Valencia-Gonzalez, 27; and Eric Joon Yi, 36. Valencia-Gonzalez was renting the home.
Along with the four suspects, police found nine French bulldogs inside the mansion, which police suspected were being illegally bred. “There was dog feces, dog urine, and dog regurgitation throughout the house in almost every room, the parlor, primary bedroom, primary bathroom, walk-in closet, the kitchen, the living room, etc.,” prosecutors say.
Martinez, Vaka-Capelle, Valencia-Gonzalez and Yi have been charged with multiple felonies, including importing and exporting drugs and possession of methamphetamine. They’ve also been charged with animal neglect.
Yi declined to comment through his attorney. Valencia-Gonzalez’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The other two men have yet to be assigned public defenders.
Several of the men had clean records. But not Valencia-Gonzalez, who has been arrested on similar charges in recent years. He’d been sentenced to 12 months’ probation in Wasco County in 2019 after being arrested for delivering at least 8 pounds of cannabis in a “public place.” In 2021, he was caught driving under the influence in Marion County and charged with carrying a concealed handgun and delivering marijuana plants.
He is scheduled to go to trial in October, after being “force released” from Marion County Jail in 2021. In most circumstances, that means the jail was too full.