Ray Christie sits detained in a Bureau of Land Management vehicle during the 2018 raid on his ranch in the Arcata Bottoms. | File photo by Andrew Goff.

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Attorneys representing Arcata cattle rancher Raymond Christie filed a federal civil rights lawsuit yesterday against the County of Humboldt, Sheriff William Honsal, former Sheriff’s Office Livestock Deputy Travis Mendes and former Deputy District Attorney Adrian Kamada, alleging multiple civil rights violations.

The 68-page complaint from L.A.-based law firm Larson LLP accuses the county and its officials of violating Christie’s Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures and his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process during a multi-agency, “SWAT-style” 2018 raid on his ranch in the Arcata Bottoms, his subsequent arrest for animal abuse and five years of criminal prosecution.

An L.A.-based public relations firm called Infinite Global emailed the Outpost a press release this morning. It outlines the lawsuit in broad strokes, saying Christie’s business involves purchasing sick, weak and injured cattle and attempting to nurse them to health. It accuses Honsal, Mendes and Kamada of hypocrisy for pursuing Christie “while ignoring obvious violations at other operations in the area.”

The suit itself, which you can download via a link below, accuses Mendes of evidence tampering, including staging photos and moving evidence, and then lying under oath. It alleges that during the 2018 raid, officers ignored Christie’s requests to speak to an attorney. It accuses Kamada of secretly recording unconstitutional questioning and then hiding that recording for a year and a half. And it says this persecution and negative media coverage harmed Christie financially while damaging his reputation.

A 2019 court case against Christie for animal cruelty and illegal dumping of cattle carcasses near state waters ended in a mistrial after a single juror declined to convict him on four felony and 10 misdemeanor charges. His conviction on other misdemeanor charges was later set aside and dismissed.

Last year, the majority owners of Redwood Meat Company, the region’s only USDA-certified slaughterhouse and processing facility, sold their shares to Christie, though he has yet to reopen the business, which shut down in 2024 after more than 70 years in operation.

Christie’s lawsuit seeks compensatory damages for lost income and business opportunities, legal fees, reputational damage and emotional distress, plus unspecified punitive damages and injunctive relief. 

Here’s the press release from Christie’s PR firm. Scroll down for a link to the lawsuit and links to just some of the many stories about Christie.

SAN FRANCISCO, December 2, 2025 – Law firm Larson LLP sued Humbdolt [sic] County and three officials late Monday in San Francisco federal court on behalf of a northern California cattle rancher, alleging they violated his civil rights in raiding his home and properties, improperly tampered with evidence, and pursued criminal charges against him that were later dismissed but that continue to harm his reputation and ability to conduct business.

The case outlines how Humboldt County Deputy Sheriff Travis Mendes, serving as livestock deputy, unlawfully raided Ray Christie’s properties in 2018 under the pretext of searching for alleged animal abuse violations. Former Humboldt County Deputy District Attorney Adrian Kamada maliciously prosecuted Christie for years for alleged felonies following the raid, leading the District Attorney to fire him for improprieties in another matter and dismiss the charges in this case in 2023 following evidentiary challenges by Christie, according to the complaint. The complaint also names Sheriff William Honsal as a defendant for supporting Mendes’ and Kamada’s actions.

As the complaint states, Mendes, Kamada, and Honsal pursued Christie while ignoring obvious violations at other operations in the area.

“Mr. Mendes, Mr. Kamada, and Mr. Honsal showed unmistakable bias toward Mr. Christie for practicing and upholding industry standards but turned a blind eye to other operations that have admitted to clear violations,” said Rick Richmond, partner with Larson LLP and lead counsel for Mr. Christie. “This lawsuit is about vindicating Mr. Christie’s civil rights and highlighting the hypocrisy of Mr. Mendes, Mr. Kamada, and Mr. Honsal, while also allowing my client to assert the truth of what has so far been a one-sided story. We ask the court to right the wrongs Humboldt County and its officials have inflicted on Mr. Christie.”

Core to Christie’s business is purchasing cattle directly or at auction that other ranchers no longer want to care for—due to illness, injury, malnutrition or other issues—and rehabilitating them back into good health. These culled cattle come from a variety of operations, including beef ranchers and dairy farmers in the area who have declined to provide needed antibiotics or other care that disqualify an animal from being considered organic under the USDA’s National Organic Program. Products certified as organic under the USDA’s classification fetch far higher profits compared to non-organic products. 

When culled cattle first arrive on Christie’s properties, they are often sick, injured or malnourished due to how they were cared for by their previous owners. Previous livestock deputies were familiar with Christie’s practices of taking these animals in and rehabilitating them and, in the years prior to the raid on his home and property, had investigated and dismissed complaints about the appearance of cattle in Christie’s herd.

Despite this, Mendes and Honsal singled Ray out in an investigation that began shortly after Honsal was elected as sheriff, and as soon as Mendes assumed the role of livestock deputy, and culminated in an early morning raid in March 2018 with officers in SWAT-style gear and carrying automatic assault rifles. During the raid, as noted in the complaint, Christie and his girlfriend were forced to stand outside in the frigid damp air, barefoot, and in the clothes in which they were sleeping. Mendes and Kamada interrogated Christie during the raid after Christie had asked to speak with his lawyer, and Mendes secretly recorded their improper questioning. It was later discovered that Mendes moved evidence before photographing it during the raid, and also used altered photographs as evidence, according to the complaint.

Kamada, who was among the raiding party and who participated in questioning Christie with no lawyer present, filed felony charges against Christie as a result of the raid. As outlined in the complaint, out of the 4,000 animals on Christie’s properties, fewer than 10 were identified as alleged victims of abuse in the felony charges that were later dismissed after Christie’s counsel uncovered fatal deficiencies in the evidence against him. Several of these cattle had arrived from an auction only hours earlier, in the middle of the night, and had not yet received the care and treatment Christie’s herd typically receive on arrival at his main ranch property. Others were cattle that had died prior to the raid but had yet to be buried due to particularly wet weather. As noted in the complaint, the industry-wide mortality rate for “open” cattle herds like Christie’s is around 20% annually, and cows that die must be buried on site due to a lack of a rendering plant in the area for more than 20 years.

Other farms in the area committing violations have escaped the county’s scrutiny. One prominent example mentioned in the complaint is Alexandre Dairy Farm, a well-known producer of A2 organic milk that Farm Forward and The Atlantic found in 2024 to have committed numerous instances of animal abuse following an extensive investigation. When confronted with this evidence, along with a mountain of corroborating evidence from other local ranchers, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office concluded the complaint by Farm Forward was “unfounded.” This was despite the USDA opening an investigation that forced the farm to admit to many instances of abuse and receive supervision from the USDA’s National Organic Program.

As a result of the ongoing harm caused by the county’s arbitrary enforcement, Christie has suffered financial and reputational damage. The charges, along with the negative media coverage and public attention, harmed Christie’s business partnerships and resulted in denied loans Christie had depended on to finance his operations.  He has also had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on attorneys to defend against criminal charges. Christie developed cancer and a heart condition during the prosecution.

The complaint states that the defendants’ wanton disregard of Christie’s constitutional rights violates the United States Constitution and 42 U.S.C. § 1983, which provides an individual the right to sue local government officials for civil rights violations. The complaint seeks compensatory damages, punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and costs, pre-judgment interest, and all other relief provided by law.

The case is Raymond Frank Christie v. County of Humboldt et al., case number 3:25-cv-10328 in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

Another photo of the 2018 raid on Christie’s property. | Andrew Goff.

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