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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Wildlife officers have arrested four suspects on charges of harvesting abalone with a recreational fishing license then selling it on the black market for profit, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.

The arrests were preceded by a five-month investigation of the suspects, some of whom have been previously convicted of similar violations.

Arrested were Oakley resident Thepbangon Nonnarath, 48, El Sobrante resident Dennis Nonnarath, 45, and San Jose residents Thu Thi Tran, 45, and Cuong Huu Tran, 42.

The group came to the attention of CDFW wildlife officers in November 2016, when Thepbangon and Dennis Nonnarath and two associates were cited for multiple abalone violations at Moat Creek, a popular recreational abalone fishery in Mendocino County.

Thepbangon Nonnarath had previous abalone poaching convictions and the wildlife officers suspected the group may be engaged in the commercial sale of recreationally harvested abalone, which is unlawful.

Beginning in May 2017, wildlife officers observed suspicious activity by the same group of suspects in several popular recreational abalone diving locations in both Mendocino and Sonoma counties.

Further investigation revealed an extended group of people who were harvesting abalone and allegedly selling it on the black market.

The five-month investigation uncovered evidence of various poaching crimes among the group, including unlawful sale of sport caught abalone, take of abalone for personal profit, commercial possession of sport caught abalone, exceeding the seasonal limit of abalone, falsification of abalone tags and conspiracy to commit a crime, among others.

“The collective efforts of these suspected poachers show a blatant disregard for the regulations designed to protect California’s abalone resources,” said David Bess, chief of CDFW’s Law Enforcement Division. “Whether it be California abalone or African ivory, wildlife officers will not tolerate trafficking of our wildlife resources.”

The alleged abalone poaching crimes occurred at a time when abalone are facing significant threats to their populations due to unprecedented environmental and biological stressors.

As a result, the California Fish and Game Commission has readopted an emergency abalone regulation to continue the restriction of the annual abalone limit to 12 abalone per person and continue the reduced open season which is limited to May, June, August, September and October.

HIDDEN VALLEY LAKE, Calif. – Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fire that destroyed two homes in Hidden Valley Lake early Thursday morning.

The fire in the 16000 block of Buckhorn Road of Hidden Valley Lake was first dispatched at 5:43 a.m. Thursday, according to South Lake Fire and Cal Fire Battalion Chief Mike Wink, who was the incident commander.

Hidden Valley Lake resident Eric Soderstrom’s home is located about 200 feet from where the fire occurred, in a part of Hidden Valley Lake that had largely escaped the impacts of the Valley fire two years ago this month.

He said his wife was up getting ready for work when she heard a boom. The noise caused their dogs to react, and when she came into their bedroom to calm the animals, she saw an orange glow coming from the window.

When she opened the drapes, she saw the fire and immediately awakened him to tell him that they needed to go.

Soderstrom said he took his first photo of the fire at 5:49 p.m. It’s shown above. At the same time, Wink said firefighters were responding.

Wink said the first units on scene, which came from the Hidden Valley Lake fire station, found a fully involved structure and several vehicles – one of which appeared to be a travel trailer or motor home – on fire, with a neighboring home also catching fire.

The fire also spread to the nearby vegetation, with multiple spot fires developing in the general area, Wink said.

Wink said power lines were down and firefighters had to establish a water supply, which they were able to do thanks to Hidden Valley Lake’s hydrant system.

He said South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire received mutual aid from Kelseyville Fire, Lake County Fire and Northshore Fire, with the latter sending its support team.

Pacific Gas and Electric responded to pull the meters, with AT&T also on scene. The local water district was there to make sure there was enough water supply, turning off the meters to the destroyed homes after the incident was completed, Wink said.

Other agencies responding included the Lake County Sheriff’s Office and Hidden Valley Lake Security, as well as the Lake County Building Department, which Wink same arrived Thursday morning to secure and red-tag the buildings before they were turned back over to the property owners.

Soderstrom said he and his wife and dogs evacuated to Hardester’s temporarily until they could size up the situation and knew that they could safely return. As they had been preparing to leave, they had heard more pops, which he believes may have been propane tanks.

As Soderstrom and his wife were leaving, they encountered emergency vehicles coming up Buckhorn Road and had to loop around onto Greenridge to get out of the area.

He said they also had found that a fire gate to allow for access out of Hidden Valley Lake was closed. Soderstrom said he later questioned Hidden Valley Lake Security about why the gate wasn’t open, and was told that decision was up to Cal Fire.

Altogether, two homes were lost plus several vehicles, Wink said.

There were no injuries, as Wink said all of the homes’ occupants were able to get out safely.

A third home had been filled with smoke because of the fire but was not damaged, he added.

Wink said Red Cross was on scene right away to provide housing assistance, with occupants of one of the homes accepting and the residents of the other home declining.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, with Wink explaining that they didn’t yet know if the fire started in a structure or one of the vehicles.

He said South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire are conducting the investigation into the fire’s origin and cause.

“They have processed the scene,” he said.

Because of the fire, the Middletown Unified School District initially reported on its Facebook page Thursday morning that it wouldn’t be able to send a bus into the area to pick up children because Hidden Valley Lake Security said that the roads around the fire were closed.

A short time later, the district followed up with a message stating that the roads were reopened once district buses were on the way, “so we were able to send a bus up to get the kids who were up there,” the message stated.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

MIDDLETOWN, Calif. – A Texas firm is pushing ahead with a plan for a Dollar General store in Middletown.

Joe Dell of Plano, Texas-based Cross Development presented the latest building design to community members at the Middletown Area Town Hall meeting on Thursday evening at the Middletown Community Center. His presentation begins at the 1:04:50 mark in the video above.

Plans for the building, to be located at 20900 Highway 29, have met resistance from community members over the past two years.

This spring, the Board of Supervisors voted to uphold the Lake County Planning Commission’s January decision to deny a design review permit and mitigated negative declaration for the project.

County Counsel Anita Grant had said after the board’s action that the project lost its major use permit, which the planning commission had denied in 2016.

The board had previously granted Cross Development’s appeal of that 2016 planning commission decision on the major use permit, but made the permit contingent on the approval of the design review permit and mitigated negative declaration, as Lake County News has previously reported.

Lake County News reconfirmed with Grant this week that the major use permit was no longer in play because of the board denying the appeal earlier this year.

At Thursday’s meeting, Dell said the use permit for the project already has been approved.

However, because the previous permitting requirements were turned down, county planning staff have said Cross Development must submit a new application for the project.

The new plans call for reducing the store size to less than 8,000 square feet, which means the plan will not trigger a major use permit in the local commercial district zoning and can instead be approved under a minor use permit, based on county planning rules.

In an attempt to clarify the requirements, Lake County News contacted county planning staff.

Principal Planner Michalyn DelValle told Lake County News this week that, so far, she has no new application from Cross Development for the plan.

Community Development Director Bob Massarelli, who was on hand for Thursday’s presentation, told Lake County News that, “To the best of my knowledge our only comments to Cross Development has been that they need to apply for a design review permit. The work that they are doing as present(ed) at last week’s MATH meeting appears to (be) their preliminary work prior to submitting an application.”

At last Thursday’s meeting, Dell said he did not want to get into issues about people’s feelings about Dollar General.

“We are here simply to work on design,” Dell said.

Dell said all of the previous designs the company has presented have been denied by the community. So he said the goal is to have a design that the community will support.

He refused to discuss the building’s tenant – Dollar General – and wanted to focus instead on the look of the building and the site plan.

Nevertheless, several community members in the audience did bring up Dollar General, the Tennessee-based small box retailer that Cross Development is building stores for in Lake County.

So far, Dollar General has opened stores in Clearlake Oaks and Nice, and thanks to Dell’s efforts has gotten the go-ahead from the city of Lakeport for another store. There also have been efforts to get a store approved in Kelseyville, with Cross Development additionally seeking a site in Lucerne.

During the meeting, Dell’s presentation was interrupted a few times by audience members telling him that they didn’t want the store.

Dell showed comparisons to previous plans, noting that the biggest change is that the building’s size has been reduced from the formula 9,100-square-foot store common among Dollar Generals to a store that’s now 7,225 square feet.

“That’s a huge positive,” he said.

Dell said the entire building will have a roof overhang, wood gables, some exterior rock decoration, faux shutters and more windows.

“The overall look and design of the building has changed drastically,” he said, noting the new design is what they are proposing to take back to the county.

He said the color scheme for the building is completely optional. Dell said they could do purple, blue or burgundy, or more earth tone colors, noting the latter was frowned upon by the Lake County Planning Commission despite earth tones being used in other buildings in Middletown.

“Just go away,” one woman in the audience said at that point.

What won’t change is the building’s signage, Dell said.

One community member who said he had called Dell to offer input on design said he never got a call back, and suggested that the building would be a “heat sink” because it hasn’t been designed to deal either with the area’s heat or its rain.

Dell said there will be landscaping at the back of the project that will go far above the county’s landscaping requirement in order to screen it from nearby homes. He said there also will be parking lot lighting and trees.

John Hess, the District 1 representative on the Lake County Planning Commission, added that Cross Development will have to comply with lighting rules to uphold dark sky protections.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Clearlake man arrested last week for animal cruelty after police said he left his dog to die along Highway 53 has entered a plea in the case and is set for preliminary hearing.

On Tuesday, James Harley Miranda, 40, pleaded not guilty to felony animal cruelty and a misdemeanor charge of being under the influence of a controlled substance, according to Deputy District Attorney Rachel Abelson.

Miranda was arrested early on the morning of Sept. 12, about 18 hours after his dog “Cocoa” was found dead by a passerby on the side of Highway 53 in Clearlake, as Lake County News has reported.

The Clearlake Police Department said the dog was tied by a homemade leash to a hand cart and had an elastic band wrapped around its jaw.

When police later found Miranda, he said Cocoa had been hit by a vehicle while off leash and that he muzzled the dog after it attempted to bite him.

He also admitted to police that he left Cocoa on the roadway and went to a friend's residence to use methamphetamine, according to the initial police report.

Miranda “denies any allegations that he in any way physically abused his dog, Cocoa,” Andrea Sullivan, Miranda’s attorney, told Lake County News.

“Evidence in this case is still being collected and the cause of death of the animal is as of yet undetermined,” said Sullivan, who added that she was not sure if further examination of Cocoa’s body is planned by investigators.

Miranda, who has remained in jail since his arrest, also had his bail reduced on Tuesday, Sullivan said.

Sullivan said that Miranda's bail was lowered to $15,000 from $25,000, with $15,000 being the standard bail for the animal cruelty charge.

“Several members of the audience made audible sounds disapproving of the reduced bail amount and were admonished by the Judge Hedstrom for disrupting the proceedings,” she said.

Sullivan said Miranda has a misdemeanor criminal history with no violence and no similar cases to the one involving Cocoa.

Abelson said Miranda waived his right to have a preliminary hearing within 10 days, so his preliminary hearing is set for Oct. 16.

If convicted, Miranda faces three years in the county jail, Sullivan said.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

LUCERNE, Calif. – A Lucerne man suffered major injuries on Sunday night when he crossed Highway 20 in a wheelchair and traveled into the path of a car, which struck him.

David Collins, 55, had trauma to his head and left leg following the crash, which occurred just after 7:30 p.m. Sunday on Highway 20 at Second Avenue, in front of Lucerne Alpine Park, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The CHP said Consuelo Rocha, 46, of Ukiah was the driver involved in the crash.

This reporter, who was walking nearby, attempted to stop traffic after witnessing Collins travel in his wheelchair from Alpine Park across Highway 20, outside of the crosswalk.

Drivers traveling eastbound saw this reporter waving and slowed down, with Collins reaching the center turn lane.

He then paused briefly in the turn lane before turning into the path of Rocha, who the CHP said was driving her 1998 Saturn accompanied by her children, 15-year-old Genesis Hernandez and 12-year-old Brian Hernandez.

Rocha did not see Collins, and her Saturn struck his wheelchair, which caused him to cartwheel out of the chair and land on the pavement. After the crash Rocha immediately pulled her vehicle over.

Several bystanders and witnesses responded to help Collins and call 911 while directing traffic around the scene.

Northshore Fire Protection District responded within minutes, transporting Collins to Lucerne Harbor Park, where an air ambulance responded to transport him to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, the CHP said.

The CHP said Rocha and the children all appeared to have been wearing their seat belts at the time of the crash, and driving under the influence was not a factor.

CHP Officer Joel Skeen is investigating the crash.

Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Wednesday formally challenged the Trump Administration over its plan to begin construction of border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial counties.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California, on behalf of the people of the State of California and the California Coastal Commission, Attorney General Becerra charges that the Trump Administration violated the U.S. Constitution, failed to comply with federal and state environmental laws, and relied on a federal statute that does not authorize the proposed projects.

“The Trump Administration has once again ignored laws it doesn’t like in order to resuscitate a campaign talking point to build a wall on our southern border,” said Attorney General Becerra. “President Trump has yet to pivot from candidate Trump to leader of a nation built on the rule of law. That's dangerous. When you respect the law, you instill confidence and certainty in your people, so critical for success. That's why California, while only one of 50 states, has become the sixth-largest economy in the world. And that's why, if you plan to do business in California, and that includes the President, then be prepared to follow the law.”

“The California Coastal Commission is charged with upholding one of the strongest environmental laws in the country: the California Coastal Act,” said Coastal Commission Chair Dayna Bochco. "We must be allowed to do our job, which is to make sure this wall and its construction impacts don’t destroy this environmentally rich area.”

On Jan. 25, President Trump issued an executive order that directed the secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security, or DHS, to identify and “allocate all sources of Federal funds for the planning, designing and construction of a physical wall along the southern border.”

Pursuant to the executive order, DHS announced on Aug. 2 that it intended to carry out various border wall projects in San Diego County, including the construction of prototype walls and fences and the replacement of 14 miles of existing primary fencing with new fencing.

DHS also has announced that it intends to replace 14 miles of existing secondary fencing, in this same area, with a solid wall or other barrier.

Former DHS Secretary (now White House Chief of Staff) John Kelly moved to expedite these construction projects using a federal statute that pertained to border projects proposed and constructed before 2009.

And just last week, DHS announced it also intended to carry out a border wall project in Imperial County. Like former Secretary Kelly, Acting Secretary Elaine Duke proposed unlawfully expediting the construction of this project.

In the complaint filed today, Attorney General Becerra describes the ways in which the border wall projects are unlawful:

• DHS failed to prepare an environmental impact statement with respect to the border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial Counties in violation of the National Environmental Policy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act. DHS also failed to comply with the Coastal Zone Management Act with respect to wall construction in San Diego County.

• To expedite construction of the border wall projects in San Diego and Imperial Counties, DHS relied on Section 102 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA). Section 102 allows the DHS Secretary to waive any law he or she deems necessary to “install additional physical barriers and roads...in the vicinity of the United States border to deter illegal crossings in areas of high illegal entry into the United States.” Congress required DHS to identify “priority areas” for construction and to complete that construction on an expedited basis by no later than December 31, 2008 – almost ten years ago. The Secretary’s authority to waive laws under Section 102 expired in 2008, and DHS did not identify the San Diego or Imperial project areas as “priority areas” before this deadline.

• DHS’ improper application of the waiver provision under Section 102 violates several provisions of the U.S. Constitution, including the Separation of Powers doctrine and the 10th Amendment. The Constitution does not permit government officials to unilaterally and arbitrarily waive any law of their choosing, including criminal laws and laws enacted by the States.

The lawsuit is posted below.

092017 California AG lawsuit against Trump Administration by LakeCoNews on Scribd