###

The story twisted facts and omitted context to fit a partisan narrative. It implied then-California Rep. Gil Cisneros engaged in criminal insider trading and knowingly profited from confidential congressional coronavirus briefings in the early days of the pandemic.

Cisneros’ opponent, now-Rep. Young Kim, issued a press release featuring the story that was published Sept. 17 by the California Globe, a partisan news site. Kim also tweeted a link later that day that was retweeted 32 times and posted the story on Facebook, where it was shared 52 times and generated 40 comments attacking Cisneros. She never retracted the press release or the social media posts — not even when the Globe removed the story from its website in response to a letter from Cisneros’ attorneys. Not when Cisneros publicly called on her to do so. Nor would her spokesperson answer repeated CalMatters’ questions about it.

The damage was apparent once the votes were counted.

Last fall, Republicans flipped four California Congressional seats previously held by Democrats. In addition to Kim’s win in Orange County, David Valadao defeated T.J. Cox in the San Joaquin Valley; Michelle Steel beat Harley Rouda in Orange County, and Mike Garcia defeated Christy Smith in northern Los Angeles County. Although the races varied in their rhetoric, they had one thing in common: the National Republican Congressional Committee targeted all four Democratic candidates in dossiers posted publicly that were filled with information, some of it false, used by some candidates for negative campaigning.

The misinformation in turn was amplified not only on social media but by a handful of upstart conservative partisan news outlets such as The San Joaquin Valley Sun. As politically independent newspapers have closed or slashed reporting staff, these sites have rushed in to fill the void. The Columbia Journalism Review last August reported California has at least 74 partisan sites — the most in the country, and listed those it found. The sites became friendly landing spots for political smears like the Globe story, allowing widespread distribution of misinformation or innuendo at no cost to the campaigns.

And nobody expects that to change anytime soon. There’s a likely campaign to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom on the horizon, and the NRCC recently released another four targets, for 2022: Reps. John Garamendi in the Sacramento Valley, Josh Harder in the northern San Joaquin Valley, Katie Porter in Orange County, and Mike Levin in San Diego County.

Dossiers posted on democratfacts.org, an NRCC-funded website, featured information labeled as “Hits,” as well as video footage available for political advertisements. The website recently deleted the 2020 dossiers on Democrat candidates across the country, but CalMatters archived the portion of the site devoted to California congressional candidates on archive.org.

‘Rare decision to unpublish’

CalMatters obtained a copy of the story the California Globe removed from its website, titled “Did California Rep. Gil Cisneros Profit from Pharma Drug Price Hits and Insider Stock Trades?” The story details certain Cisneros stock trades and references stock trades by U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler of Georgia, Dianne Feinstein of California and Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma — all of whom were investigated by the U.S. Department of Justice for insider trading. It then calls it “surprising” that U.S. congressional members “were not scrutinized as well.”

Cisneros did sell stocks during the early days of the pandemic, but the Globe story omitted the fact that Cisneros also bought stocks during that period, and continued to trade stocks after the stock market crashed. The Globe story claimed Cisneros’ sale of 219 stocks after Congressional briefings was “a serious offense” akin to the insider trading allegations against the three senators. Tom Rust, staff director and chief counsel for the House Committee on Ethics, declined to comment on the Cisneros trades.

“It is unfortunate that there are outlets out there that are claiming to be legitimate media outlets and they’re not,” Cisneros said, “whether it is the California Globe or Breitbart, which are just an extension of the Republican agenda. They’re not there to tell legitimate news stories or to report the news.”

In the cease-and-desist letter sent to the California Globe, Cisneros’ attorneys called the article “false and defamatory” and pointed out that Cisneros was never investigated for any wrongdoing.

“By focusing only on the sales, and ignoring Rep. Cisneros’s purchases, the article intentionally seeks to cast Rep. Cisneros’s activities as dishonest and illegal, when they were not,” the attorneys’ letter states.

The California Globe is a subsidiary of Sea of Reeds, LLC, a company founded by Ken Kurson. Kurson is the former editor of the New York Observer, a publication owned by the family of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of former President Donald Trump. The Observer endorsed Trump for president in 2016, and before he left office, Trump pardoned Kurson for interstate stalking and harassment charges.

“On the internet, you can pretend you’re a reliable source, that you’re a real newspaper, and people believe you.”
— Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute

Katy Grimes, editor of the California Globe and one of Breitbart’s “Top 25 Conservative Voices in California,” declined to comment on the sources or reporting for the removed article. She said Kurson occasionally writes articles for the California Globe but “had nothing to do with this one and hadn’t read it or heard about it until the lawyer contacted us.”

“(W)e heard from a lawyer representing Cisneros, and after further investigation decided that some of the points raised were valid enough to warrant the very rare decision to unpublish the article,” she said in an email. “The lawyer thanked us for our ‘prompt response’ and said it was ‘much appreciated.’”

The Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican Super PAC, highlighted the story on its website, including excerpts that still were live Thursday. The Lincoln Club of Orange County, a local Super PAC, took out eight ad campaigns linking back to the Congressional Leadership Fund’s post of the Globe story that was unpublished. Facebook showed the ads between 70,000 and 80,000 times.

And the Young Kim for Congress campaign bought 13 ad campaigns on Facebook that, like the Globe story and NRCC dossier, insinuated Cisneros engaged in insider trading with the charge that he “traded millions in stock following Congress’s private COVID hearing.” The “Profited” ad campaigns received between 378,000 and 446,000 impressions, according to Facebook’s ad library.

Politico or journalist?

The Globe is just one of California’s partisan news sites. In 2019, Alex Tavlian, a Republican staffer, lawyer, and political strategist, founded the San Joaquin Valley Sun.

For years before that though, Tavlian worked for Rep. David Valadao, including as his campaign manager in 2018 when Cox unseated Valadao. Tavlian interned in 2013, served as the deputy district director for Valadao in 2017, and on Dec. 20, 2018, Valadao praised Tavlian in the Congressional Record as an “invaluable” member of his staff.

But when Valadao campaigned against Cox last year to retake his seat, Tavlian was running the San Joaquin Valley Sun. On Sept. 14, Tavlian penned an article that contained much of the information featured in a democratfacts.org dossier on Cox. Two quotes in the story are word-for-word from the dossier uploaded to the NRCC website on May 29, according to the metadata from the dossier.

The dossier and the San Joaquin Valley Sun article each detailed allegations against a former business partner of Cox, Norma Childers. Tavlian does not disclose his close relationship with Valadao anywhere in the article, nor that he worked as Valadao’s campaign manager. At the bottom of the story, he repeated discredited allegations of patient abuse at a memory care facility in which Valadao invested. Valadao alleged the mistreatment in television ads for the failed 2018 campaign that Tavlian managed.

Although the article garnered little interaction on Facebook and Twitter, it was retweeted by Torunn Sinclair, national press secretary for the NRCC. Two outside money groups, the NRCC IE Committee and the Congressional Leadership Fund, ran 10 ad campaigns related to allegations in the Sun story and NRCC dossier. The ads had more than 200,000 impressions on Facebook.

The San Joaquin Valley Sun is a subsidiary of the Valley Future Foundation, a non-profit where Tavlian serves as the executive director. In a 2019 interview, Tavlian claimed he is able to write and report on candidates objectively despite his campaign work for Valadao and his recent work to elect Republicans. He has at times included a disclaimer at the bottom of his stories about his relationship to the candidate mentioned in the story.

In 2014, Tavlian founded Sultana Media, a communications and strategic media firm that works to elect GOP candidates. Sultana Media’s clients include Valadao, Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer, Congressman Devin Nunes in the Fresno area, Brian Whelan for his Fresno City Council run, and many others. In 2017, Tavlian registered a partisan news site called The California Republican, for Nunes, according to Politico.

Tavlian did not respond to requests for comment.

The NRCC website, where the dossiers are stored, provides hits on Democratic candidates all across the country. The dossier that features information in the San Joaquin Valley Sun article was uploaded to the NRCC website by a man named Austin Kruger, according to the metadata attached to the dossier. Kruger went on to retweet the San Joaquin Valley Sun article four times.

Kruger did not respond to requests for comment.

‘Coordination is clearly illegal’

Ann Ravel is the former commissioner of the Federal Election Commission during the Obama Administration, a job she took after working as California’s top elections watchdog. Ravel said websites like democratfacts.org can be used to skirt federal election laws such as the Citizens United ruling. That ruling made coordination between Super PACs, political parties and candidate campaign committees explicitly illegal.

“People recognize that they can avoid the law and the purpose of the law,” Ravel said. “Coordination is clearly illegal, because that was the whole premise of Citizens United.”

No one has alleged such coordination in the California campaigns to flip congressional seats. Yet Ravel expressed concern about the democratfacts.org site and blamed partisan gridlock for allowing such sites to remain public.

“Unfortunately the laws about that kind of coordination are not (enforced) in a way that is very clear,” she said. “There has never been a coordination enforcement action at the Federal Election Commission.

“There are six members and no more than three can be of one political party, which means that in order to have an enforcement action it requires four votes,” Ravel said.

Negative campaigning and political dirty tricks have been a part of electoral democracy since the inception of the two-party system. Political dirty tricks are essentially just ways of gaming the system, such as when President John F. Kennedy’s father paid a man with the same last name as his 1946 congressional opponent to run in the race, causing votes to be split between the two and giving his son the win. Negative campaigns can include true information that hurts a candidate’s reputation, or information that is twisted to mislead, or both.

Regardless, such political attacks generally were expensive.

“Pre-internet, you had to either send massive numbers of letters by mail, or you had to have a big phone bank that was calling people’s houses,” said Elaine Kamarck, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute, where she specializes in American electoral politics.

The cost of today’s massive digital outreach programs is minimal. Voters are subjected to a deluge of information and forced to discern what is true and what isn’t.

“On the internet, you can pretend you’re a reliable source, that you’re a real newspaper, and people believe you,” Kamarck said. “The more incendiary and outrageous something is, the quicker it slides on the internet.”

###

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

###

This week’s state Supreme Court decision on cash bail could fundamentally alter the state’s criminal justice system — purportedly barring anyone from being held in jail before trial solely because they don’t have enough money to get out.

But it’s unlikely to throw open the jailhouse doors anytime soon for many of the 44,000 people across California who are behind bars on any given day, despite not being convicted and sentenced for a crime.

“It makes very clear you can’t detain someone just because they can’t pay,” said Natasha Minsker, a Sacramento attorney and consultant who focuses on criminal justice issues. “It leaves many questions unanswered.”

The use of bail has been a major focus of criminal justice reform efforts here and across the country. Last year, voters rejected Prop. 25, which would have ended the use of cash bail. The Supreme Court opinion issued Thursday says judges must consider a defendant’s ability to pay when setting bail. The opinion also said judges can consider public safety and whether a defendant is a flight risk when making pretrial detention decisions.

But the procedure for making such determinations is unclear.

“(S)triking the proper balance between the government’s interests and an individual’s pretrial right to liberty requires a reasoned inquiry, careful consideration of the individual arrestee’s circumstances, and fair procedures,” Justice Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar wrote in the opinion. “But…this is not a case that requires us to lay out comprehensive descriptions of every procedure by which bail determinations must be made. We leave such details to future cases.”

Those future cases will take time.

“It makes very clear you can’t detain someone just because they can’t pay. It leaves many questions unanswered.”
— Natasha Minsker, Sacramento attorney and consultant on criminal justice issues

For now, defense lawyers will need to decide if they should be filing motions for bail reconsideration in existing cases. Prosecutors will need to figure out what this means for the bail amounts they request from judges. Courts will need to figure out processes for determining when a defendant can afford bail. And judges — who sometimes set exorbitant bail amounts, particularly in cases where the charges are serious — will need to figure out the constitutional limits on when they can order a defendant held without bail for public safety reasons, or out of fear they won’t come back to court.

“Inevitably they’re going to exceed those limits” as the courts stumble through, Minsker said. And that will mean more litigation and, ultimately, decisions clarifying when criminal defendants can be held behind bars before trial.

Even with the ambiguity, criminal justice reform advocates and public defenders hailed the decision.

The opinion is “a validation of a ground-up movement in California and what we have always known as our truth that says liberty cannot be stripped simply because of an inability to pay for one’s freedom,” said Raj Jayadev, co-founder of the Silicon Valley De-Bug. Advocates said the challenge now is pressing judges to both reconsider bail in existing cases and to follow the spirit of the law going forward.

“There’s still a lot of legwork to do,” said Elizabeth Camacho, a felony case manager in the San Francisco public defender’s office. She said attorneys in her office will need to look at which cases might be eligible for reconsideration of bail under the new decision.

Advocates said the challenge now is pressing judges to both reconsider bail in existing cases and to follow the spirit of the law going forward.

Three-quarters of jail inmates statewide are unsentenced — meaning they haven’t actually been convicted and sentenced for a crime, according to the Board of State and Community Corrections. Many have bail set by the courts.

For example, data obtained by CalMatters show that more than 4,300 of the roughly 5,800 unsentenced inmates in Los Angeles County jails as of mid-February had a bail amount listed. Some, however, likely have other holds such as an outstanding warrant that might prevent them from being released even if they can get a judge to reconsider their bail.

“It’s just a step forward in what is right. People — rich or poor — should have the same access to justice,” Camacho said. “I do think when our highest court speaks and says there must be an individual consideration of each person and whether or not there are non-monetary means to release pretrial — that’s powerful.”

A spokesperson for the California District Attorneys Association said the opinion importantly still gives judges discretion in pretrial detention decisions. The group’s head, Greg Totten, released a statement shortly after the decision came out.

“CDAA has long believed that California’s bail system needs to be thoughtfully reformed in a manner that balances both public safety considerations and the individual circumstances of the charged defendant, including, but not limited to, their financial means to post bail,” he said, adding that the association didn’t take a position on the case that led to the Supreme Court ruling.

Karen Pank, director of the Chief Probation Officers of California, also released a statement appearing to praise the decision.

“Wealth should play no role in the justice system and we will continue to fight for a pretrial system that focuses on safety, fairness, and effectiveness for system-involved individuals and our communities,” she said.

###

CALmatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.

Frank Sanderson
Sept. 1, 1954 - March 11, 2021

Frank Sanderson passed away at his home on March 11, 2021. He was recently diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.

Frank was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Frank and Gladine Sanderson. Frank lived in Colorado, Weott and Stafford. His family moved to Scotia in 1965 after the 1964 flood.

He attended kindergarten in Uranvan, Colorado. His family relocated to Weott, where he attended Agnes J. Johnson Elementary. While his family was living in Stafford, he attended Scotia Union Elementary. He graduated from Fortuna Union High School in 1972. He later attended College of the Redwoods to take vocational and welding classes.

He was employed at the Scotia Inn during high school as a busboy and worked his way to a waiter. In November of 1972, he was hired by Pacific Lumber Company. He worked his entire career at PALCO in the factory. First he was a glue man, and then he worked himself up to being the lead man for the factory millwright shop. He was a dedicated employee and worked tirelessly at his job — many, many, long hours. He became disabled and could no longer work in September 2004. He became an active member of the Scotia Volunteer Fire Department in 1978. He first started with the service company and was later promoted to an Assistant Fire Chief. He was presented with the Firefighter of the Year award in 1998 at the SVFD Annual Dinner. He was also one of the pioneers in starting the rope rescue team at the department.

He was a man of a number of hobbies and interests. In his younger years, he enjoyed steelhead fishing on the Eel River, backpacking in the Marble Mountains/Trinity Alps, hunting for deer at Rainbow, and music. He later developed an interest in cooking/baking and gardening.

He was preceded into the next life by his parents, Frank and Gladine Sanderson; his sister, Vanda; two nieces, Laurie and Sherry; and two great-nieces.

He leaves behind Carleen, his loving wife of 45 years, son Frank (“Chris”), daughter-in-law Melissa, granddaughter Mallory, grandson Gage, daughter Amber Sanderson and her partner Jereme Lenardo. He also leaves behind his sister Beverly in Joplin, Missouri. He also had four nephews, great-nephews and nieces, and great-great nieces and nephews and cousins he never got the chance to meet. He is also survived by his mother-in-law Beverly Taplin-Lewis and father-in-law Whit Lewis.

Frank had the utmost love for his family. His children and grandchildren, Mallory and Gage, gave him so much happiness and joy. He was also a man with deep Christian values and knew the Lord.

The family is devastated by Frank’s passing. We will miss your dry sense of humor and everything you did for us as a family.

Very special thanks to the Scotia/Rio Dell Volunteer Fire Department for their valiant life-saving efforts. Also special thanks to Nathan McKnight, a family friend, who stood by the entire time in our time of need.

There will be no formal services. A private family gathering will be held at a future date. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of your favorite charities. If you would like to send cards to the family, the address is P.O. Box 132, Scotia, Ca 95565.

Donald Adolph Straw was born on June 7, 1929 in Kelso, Washington. He passed away on Tuesday March 16, 2021 in his home in Mad River. he was 91.

He is survived by his wife, Roseann (Rosie).They were married on December 23rd, 1960. They were married for 60 years.

He was preceded in death by his sister, Juanita, who died in childbirth, and an infant daughter, Michelle Lorene, who they lost in a house fire in 1971. She was 13 months old.

He leaves behind his sister, Alice Wilson of Shasta City and his sister Bertha Michalak, of Anderson, his daughters Crystal Jakubczak; Jan Straw; Jeannie Rush (Pat) and a son, James Straw. he leaves behind six grandchildren and ten great grand children; Joseph Spatafore (Mary Jo) and their daughter, Alexandria; Robert Spatafore(Heather) and their children, Nicholas, Monica and John Henry; Jason Spatafore (Christine) and their children, Kelly and Jameson; Matthew Jakubczak; Jesse Meyer (Brigitte)and their children, Wyatt and Natalee; Brian Meyer; Jade and Jazmyne Straw.

He graduated from RH Long High School, Longview Washington. After high school, he worked at a Gas Station in Eufaula, Wash., for his father-in-law, at the time, who owned the store and gas station. At some point, he moved to Eureka and drove a Taxi Cab. He also worked for the local newspaper in Eureka.

He became a part of the Southern Trinity community, working as a logger in 1961. He decided to become a resident of Mad River in 1964. He spent his time as a loader operator, woods boss and a logging truck driver for Three Rivers Logging Company, owned by Graham Cottrell. He became a Master Mechanic for Twin Harbors Lumber Company in 1972. After the lumber company shut down in 1979, Don started his own business called S.T.R.A.W.S. Southern Trinity Repair And Welding Services. Which also included a towing service.

He put many years into the work force of his community. he acted as the 5th district Supervisor for 4 years in 1980-1984. He was a big part of establishing the RLCSD (Ruth Lake Community Services District), along with the Lions Club and the Volunteer Fire Department. He was a member of the Ruth Riding and Roping Club. He and Rosie spent many years working at the Rodeo Grounds, when the Club used to put on the Ruth Rodeo and Logging Show. He was the Chairman of the Ruth Rodeo for the Lions Club. He was president of the Six Rivers Senior Citizens and President of the Volunteer Fire Department.

Don was active in the Lions Club for 44 years, being the last charter member. He was acting president for the Lions Club in 1979 and also the chairman for the Ruth Rodeo for many years. He was the Grand Marshall of the Ruth Rodeo in 2004.

Don helped to start the Southern Trinity Health Services. Don, along with Jim Delaney and Don Perry, purchased an ambulance, before S.T.A.R. And put a lot of repairs into it, but every time they were going to transport a patient, it would break down. As the story goes, that Ambulance is in a ditch somewhere on Don’s property.

He also sponsored numerous drivers for the destruction derby, over in Hayfork, at the fairgrounds.

Graveside services will be held on April 9th at 2:00 at the Mad River Cemetery on route 1. In lieu of flowers the family is asking for donations to the Southern Trinity Volunteer Fire Department, P.O. Box 16, Mad River, CA. 95552.

Don will always be remembered as someone who got things done and always followed through with what he said he would. He will be remembered fondly by his community. He is on a new journey where he is free to run and not get weary.

###

The obituary above was submitted on behalf of William Allen’s loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.

Judge Timothy Canning has denied a defense motion to dismiss the felony hit-and-run case against Jeffry Lee Tsarnas, but the judge did dismiss the special allegation that the victim, Marie Kelley, suffered great bodily injury when Tsarnas’s car struck her on Fernbridge in November 2018.

Tsarnas.

The motion to dismiss the hit-and-run charge was filed today as the jury trial was in progress, with defense attorney April Van Dyke arguing the prosecution had failed to turn over information that would have helped Tsarnas, namely that key witness Barbara Craft once told the District Attorney’s Office she had been “telling fibs” about Tsarnas.

Secondly, Van Dyke said Deputy District Attorney Roger Rees elicited false or misleading information from California Highway Patrol Sgt. Matthew Harvey, who testified he couldn’t recall smelling alcohol when he looked at the car the day after the collision. Tsarnas allegedly spilled a milk and brandy concoction in the car when the vehicle struck Kelley.

During that testimony, Rees pointed out it would be difficult to smell alcohol when the car doors were shut and the windows were rolled up.

In fact, Van Dyke argued today, recordings of the CHP interview with Tsarnas and Craft clearly reveal that Harvey opened the car door while he was talking to the couple.

As to Harvey’s testimony, Canning said California law is clear that the prosecution must correct false information provided by its own witnesses. On the other hand, it would have to be shown that the testimony would prejudice the jury. Also, Canning said, he’s not heard of cases being dismissed on those grounds before a defendant is convicted. If Tsarnas is convicted, Canning told Van Dyke, “I’ll be ready to revisit that.”

As far as the prosecution not turning over the information about Craft saying she lied, Canning said there was no evidence of “a substantial showing of harm” to Tsarnas.

Craft reportedly was sick of coming to court and was trying to get out of testifying when she told a false story about fibbing. No recording was made of her statement, and the district attorney’s investigator she spoke with has no memory of the conversation.

After Canning issued the ruling, Rees asked if Canning was declaring a “Brady” violation for withholding exculpatory evidence, which is a violation he would have to report to the California Bar Association. Canning said the violation was not “intentional or in bad faith,” so it would not need to be reported.

Van Dyke, who began her part of the case today, is trying to get Sgt. Harvey back into court but hasn’t been able to reach him. Harvey is out on bereavement leave. Van Dyke said she believed she could have Harvey back by tomorrow morning.

Another witness, a “Ms. Hansen,” is refusing to come to court, Van Dyke said.

All of the arguments on the motion to dismiss were held while jurors were out of the courtroom.

This afternoon Van Dyke called as a witness Patrik Griego, Marie Kelley’s former attorney, to ask him about texts he sent to prosecutors during the trial. Griego said he was providing updates on Kelley’s civil action against Tsarnas. Kelley settled with Tsarnas’s insurance company out of court, Griego said.

As to the special allegation that Kelley suffered great bodily injury, Rees agreed with Van Dyke that the charge should be dismissed.

Kelley suffered a broken ankle and three broken bones in her foot.

###

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 25, 2021, deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) served two search warrants to investigate illegal cannabis cultivation in the Dinsmore area. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California State Water Board and the Humboldt County Environmental Health and HazMat Team assisted in the service of the warrants.

Two parcels were investigated during the service of the warrants. The parcels did not possess the required county permit and state license to cultivate cannabis commercially.

During the service of the warrants, deputies eradicated approximately 3,831 growing cannabis plants. Deputies seized and destroyed approximately 38 pounds of packaged cannabis bud, 877 of processed cannabis and over 1,650 pounds of cannabis shake. Deputies also located two black-tailed deer fawns that had been illegally shot and killed sometime within the last week.

Assisting agencies found three water diversion violations (up to $8,000 fine per day, per violation), six water pollution violations (up to $20,000 fine per day, per violation), and numerous fuel and oil spills associated with generators used on the parcels.

Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies.

No arrests were made during the service of the warrant. The case will be forwarded to the DA’s Office for review.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On March 23, 2021, deputies with the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office Marijuana Enforcement Team (MET) served two search warrants to investigate community complaints regarding illegal indoor cannabis cultivation in the Carlotta and Blocksburg areas. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California State Water Board and the Humboldt County Environmental Health and HazMat Team assisted in the service of the warrants.

Two parcels were investigated during the service of the warrants. The parcels did not possess the required county permit and state license to cultivate cannabis commercially.

During the service of the warrant at a parcel in Carlotta, deputies eradicated approximately 3,173 growing cannabis plants. Assisting agencies also found two water pollution violations (up to $20,000 fine per day, per violation) and numerous hazardous waste violations as a result of oil spills and diesel fuel leaks near Cummings Creek.

During the service of the warrant at a parcel in Blocksburg, deputies eradicated approximately 8,412 growing cannabis plants. Assisting agencies also found one water diversion violation (up to $8,000 fine per day, per violation) and six industrial generators with oil spills.

Additional violations with civil fines are expected to be filed by the assisting agencies.

No arrests were made during the service of the warrant. The case will be forwarded to the DA’s Office for review.

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.