Co-founder of Arcata UniTea House Faces Abuse Allegations as Tea Shop Shutters

Jonathan Pinkston, a founding owner of UniTea House, is facing allegations of sexual assault and other improper conduct as the Northtown Arcata tea lounge that opened Feb. 1, 2025 had closed by the end of November, according to reporting and court documents. The closure left the wellness-minded event space and tea lounge shuttered after what one account called about 10 months of operation.

UniTea House was described as a “wellness-minded event space and tea lounge” that organizers initially envisioned as a new location for Sonoma County’s Soft Medicine Sanctuary. Secretary of state business-formation documents list Pinkston and two business partners as the founders, and Sage Alexander reported that UniTea “formed after Pinkston became interested in forming a kind of successor to ‘The Thing,’ a since-closed event space on the Arcata Plaza that offered ecstatic dancing nights.”

The sequence of dates in public reporting places the shop’s opening on Feb. 1, 2025, and states it “had closed by the end of November.” Lost Coast Outpost summarized the span as “opened about a year ago and lasted about 10 months,” a timing that aligns with the Feb. 1 opening and a year-end closure in the same operating cycle.

The allegations surfaced in a “lengthy restraining order request filed in Humboldt County” by Clairese Mayo, identified in reporting as Pinkston’s former business and romantic partner and a Humboldt County resident. That filing, as described in the reporting, alleges “financial coercion, emotional abuse and sexual abuse,” and Mayo additionally sought child custody in the same request. These claims currently appear in civil filings; none of the supplied reporting states that criminal charges have been filed.

Internal partners and court filings depict a fracturing of management prior to the closure. Will Wright, a founding owner who was running the business by the end, told reporters that “he was rarely there at all.” In a court declaration supporting Mayo’s restraining order request, Wright pointed to “concerning behaviors” of Pinkston including “lying, lacking transparency and spinning stories to paint himself in the best light.” Wright also said that “all local owners are standing in solidarity with victims.”

Lost Coast Outpost reported that business owners had “gradually moved away from Pinkston before it shut its doors,” a chronology that matches Wright’s account of shifting operational control. The reporting cites the restraining order request, Wright’s court declaration, and secretary of state formation documents as the principal documentary sources underlying the allegations and ownership history.

Sage Alexander framed the situation as “a community reckoning in wellness circles he frequented further south,” noting the closed storefront and a March photo of the former site. At present the matter rests in civil filings in Humboldt County and the reported allegations and supporting declarations shape the legal and community response surrounding the former UniTea House.