In this down economy, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Department is not only hiring, but paying big bucks: $63,000-$88,000, plus paid overtime, 100% pickup of retirement benefits, 20-30 days of annual leave, tuition reimbursement, 2% contribution to 401k program, and so on and so forth.
And if you get hired, you may get to do like Detective Ray Dominguez, who specializes in agriculture crimes. His latest mission might best be categorized as state-sponsored terrorism—use any and all means, including de-basing the U.S. Constitution’s Fourth Amendment, to put goat farmer Sharon Palmer, a single mother of three young children, out of business and destroy her dream of creating a sustainable farm producing nutrient-dense foods.
Detective Dominguez began his mission in early January by leading a posse of state and local regulators and arresting Sharon and parading her handcuffed in front of her three young children, before throwing her into the clinker overnight.
Yesterday, big tough guy Dominguez followed up on his mission to make America safe from the Sharon Palmers of the world by showing up at Sharon’s farm, with four of his buddies, armed not only with guns, but with a 14-page search warrant that, essentially, entitled him to take anything he wanted from her modest home, nearby barn, and car. (The warrant is signed by a “Judge of the Superior Court, Ventura Judicial District,” but his/her name isn’t spelled out and the signature is illegible.)
Dominguez sent five more of his buddies to the tiny house of Sharon’s grown daughter, who lives 15 minutes down the road and whose major crime seems to be that she helps Sharon at farmers markets, so they could rummage through her home and car, and confiscate her computer.
He and his colleagues spent two-and-a-half hours at Sharon’s place, and they would have made Sherlock Holmes proud, videotaping Sharon’s freshly made goat cheese and chickens and sheep, as well as his troopers carting off Sharon’s computer and personal papers. Truly inspiring.
And you could tell Det. Dominguez had been busy as a bee preparing for this major mission in his life. Here is how the search warrant describes Sharon’s home: “…a two story, single family residence. The numbers ‘6780’ appear in 4-inch brass colored metal numerals attached to a stained brown wood post to the left (west) of the front porch…The exterior of the residence is constructed of tan wood paneling and white wood trim. The residence has a gray asphalt shingle roof. The front door of the residence faces west and is constructed of wood. The front door is stained dark brown and has a beveled glass panel in the center of the door. There is a detached garage located south of the residence. The residence/garage are accessed via a concrete driveway that runs in an east and west direction. The driveway is located south of the residence and runs between the residence and the detached garage. The detached garage has white ‘roll up’ style doors.”
Gee, you’d think Det. Dominguez was writing a real estate listing. Except for what follows:
“In addition to searching the above described residence, the scope of this search also includes, but is not limited to, outbuildings, sheds, garages, storage containers, storage lockers, safes, file cabinets, files, desks, desk drawers, cupboards, personal luggage, attics, basements, carports, rubbish containers in the same building or complex associated with the above described residence.” I think they left out the toilet.
Now keep in mind, no charges have been filed against Sharon. The investigation seems to have to do with an allegation she was producing cheese in an unlicensed facility (which she denies) and making unpasteurized milk available (which she does via a herdshare). This justifies an investigation more appropriate to a drug dealer or terrorist?
I spoke briefly with Det. Dominguez, and he said he couldn’t comment on why a search warrant had been issued, and referred me to the prosecutor’s office. The Ventura County senior deputy district attorney, Chris Harman, who has been assigned Sharon’s case, didn’t return my call.
In the meantime, Sharon is prohibited from selling any product, which means she has lots of expenses, and very little income.
Sharon told me the sheriff’s officers are going to be very disappointed by what they find on her computer and among her business papers. “They aren’t going to find anything except my pasteurization chart.”
She said she doesn’t normally anger very easily, but lost it yesterday against Det. Dominguez and Sergeant Hess, the detective’s superior, who apparently wanted to be along so he could critique his subordinate’s investigative style. “I said I want to know what your probable cause is.” No answer. She inquired about the status of a theft of grain she reported from her farm shortly after New Year, that seems to have ignited the campaign against her—she had identified a suspect to the sheriffs, and after they showed up at her place, she found she was the one in trouble. “They said it was still under investigation.”
“I’m so sad,” says Sharon. “I’m trying to do something wholesome…I said to my daughter, I must have been an awful person in a previous life…If this keeps dragging on, I may not be able to keep the farm.”
A couple of professional notes on these two upstanding officers of the law. Det. Dominguez was chosen as the Camarillo Noontime Optimist Club Officer of the Year in 2006 (scroll to the bottom of the page). Must be because going after single mom farmers gives you such an upbeat view of life.
And if you look at Sergeant Hess’ Linked-In account, you’ll find he’s interested in consulting offers and expertise requests. Hey, how about a gig advising officers in other departments on harassing single moms, Gary?
held accountable is one thing, i don’t know of anyone here who isn’t willing to be accountable.
being regulated out of business by witch hunters is another.
i think part of the problem is homeland security, states and counties got gobs of gov’t money after 9/11 for "security" and they now have nothing to do except what they are doing, attacking the very people they were hired/trained to e defending and looking out for.
after all, what’s a para-military police force to do?
The description of the place to be searched is a vital part of a search warrant application. If the description of the place to be searched is not clear, the warrant will not be issued. The meticulous description will hopefully protect the "wrong" dwelling from having the door smashed in. Executing a search warrant at the wrong dwelling has resulted in tragedy on more than one occasion.
Given that America’s economy is in a death spiral, the continued funding of the "Agricultural Crimes Unit" is curious, especially in California’s desperate budget crisis. The selection of this unit’s "targets" is bizarre. Following the funding for this unit might provide insight into how they justify spending so much time and money going after such "dangerous" people.
Perhaps we will all catch a break when the unit is disbanded due to patrol shortages or new openings in the "Thought Control Unit".
The spokesmen for the corporate types always say " Neither the elderly nor any child should ever comsume raw dairy for any reason" And their word is sanctified by the white robed priests in the labs.
But the corporate spokesmen and their enforcement arm of course would reject events in the real world like maybe we could point to say 3 raw dairy farmers that each produced raw dairy for 10 years totalling 30 years AND NO ONE EVER BECAME ILL. HMMM
Gwen the PA farmers still know very little about the new scrapies law. I did get the PDAs flyer with limited info I went to the PDA web site and found nothing on the new law. If you are interested in more info here is the phone listed on the flyer. 717-772-2852
"A criminal investigation of the Blakely peanut butter plant linked to the national salmonella outbreak was also announced Friday, federal health officials said."
From the Atlanta Journal-Consitution…
http://tinyurl.com/dzsols
I also tried again at the ODA website to figure out how to obtain scrapie tags. The site on this is very user-UNfriendly, but I did eventually find a place I could order the RFID tags for goats and sheep. They list links to suppliers, and you have to follow the links, and sort through each website to find what you’re looking for. Some of the sites are incredibly poorly designed for the purpose of being helpful to someone looking for RFID tags. Some only supply for one type of livestock, but you don’t find that out until spending 15 minutes looking on their site; and then when you find out it is only for cows, or horses, you have to go back to the ODA website and try another supplier. It took 2 hours to find one place. It is phenomenally aggravating. Whoever came up with that idea for a state web page needs to go back to college. I HOPE they didn’t spend a lot of tax dollars on it!!! 50 RFID tags (on the ONLY site I found that supplies to sheep and goats, and the 4th one I checked) were over $200, which is the minimum number you can buy. That is $4/animal. You have to buy them in sets, assigned to your farm. But if a 4-H kid wants to take a market goat or lamb, or someone only wants to keep 5 goats, $200 for 50 tags is a little too much to expect. There is no suggestion as to how a small livestock owner can COMPLY (without spending $200 on 50 of course). The PA site doesn’t even have an easy access or suggestions in a clear way as to how to obtain RFID tags.
So what – they create these obscure laws with very little education or access to useable information in how a farmer can comply – and now are they going to go rounding up the noncompliant farmers? I sure hope not. Gosh, why bother even trying? There have to be hundreds of people with animals who don’t even know about the PA law to begin with.
The sad thing about the peanut butter outbreak is that rather than help redefine laws to make our food more safe, people will use the laws selfishly and inappropriately, as is being done with Sharon Palmer, to try and look good to the public. And they don’t look good at all in the end. In the end, our food will not be any more safe, but less safe, and people will be victimized.
BTW, how many plants have mold growing on walls and paint peeling on their ceilings. Are there any food factories that DON’T have these problems? That is like, not even making any sense. Is salmonella caused by mold and peeling paint?
I have no faith in the news media.
"Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture staff may choose to deny unloading and turn away untagged sheep and goats. People transporting sheep and goats without offical scrapies identifcation may be subject to criminal and/or civil penalties of up to $10000 per violation"
It sounds like even a hired truck driver could be charged.
Until the actual statute can be read all we know is what is stated on this very brief flyer.
Welcome to open transparent government in the land of the free. SIGH
Wisconsin Steps Up Attacks Against its Own Farmers by Linn Cohen Cole
http://www.opednews.com/articles/In-Wisconsin–The-bell-t-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090130-138.html