Moon Mountain Farms/Moon Valley Nursery Illegal Immigrants
http://www.ventura.org/vcda/032405.htm
Release Date: March 24, 2005
Contact:
Laurel McWaters, Deputy District Attorney
(805) 289-1983
District Attorney Gregory D. Totten today announced that the office's Fish and Game Prosecution Unit obtained a final judgment and permanent injunction in a civil environmental protection case against L.B. Palm Growers, LLC, Moon Valley Nursery, Inc., and Leslie W. Blake (DOB 6/12/69). Defendant L.B. Palm Growers, LLC is a California limited liability company in the wholesale nursery business. Moon Valley Nursery, Inc. is a California corporation also in the wholesale nursery business. Leslie W. Blake is the President and CEO of Moon Valley Nursery, Inc. and L.B. Palm Growers, LLC. The case was based upon an investigation conducted by the California Department of Fish and Game.
The civil complaint filed by the District Attorney alleges that the defendants unlawfully altered the bed, banks, and channel of a tributary to the Santa Clara River in Fillmore in violation of Fish and Game Code section 1602.
Without admitting any wrongdoing, defendants agreed to a final judgment and permanent injunction which requires the defendants to pay civil penalties in the amount of $40,000, half of which shall be distributed to the Ventura County Fish and Wildlife Propagation Fund, and half of which shall be deposited into the California Department of Fish and Game's Fish and Game Preservation Fund. The final judgment and permanent injunction also requires defendants to comply with a restoration plan which requires the defendants to plant native vegetation and remove non-native vegetation for a minimum of seven years on streambed property owned by defendants. Under the permanent injunction, defendants are also prohibited from substantially changing the bed, bank, or channel of any river, stream, or lake in the future.
