A Ventura County farmer and former board member of a neighborhood water company has pleaded responsible to at least one felony depend of grand theft of water.
Daniel Conklin Naumann, who owns and operates Naumann Household Farms in Oxnard, pumped groundwater value $29,301 between 2019 and 2021 with out paying the required charges to the Fox Canyon Groundwater Administration Company, based on a information launch from the Ventura County district lawyer.
Naumann was a longtime elected board member of the United Water Conservation District and an alternate board member of the Fox Canyon company. He resigned from the United district this month.
Investigators from the Ventura County Sheriff’s Workplace found that diversion bypasses had been put in on two industrial water pumps that irrigated Naumann’s crops, based on the district lawyer. The bypasses diverted pumped water to irrigation traces earlier than it reached the circulate meters that measure utilization for billing functions.
“Stealing water is a severe crime,” Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko mentioned in a written assertion. “This felony conviction holds the defendant accountable for his conduct and sends a transparent message that evading charges and illegally diverting water will lead to prison penalties.”
The district lawyer’s workplace introduced in August that it had filed prices in opposition to Naumann for felony counts of grand theft and theft of utility providers.
Mark Pachowicz, an lawyer representing Naumann, declined to remark.
The Naumanns are thought of farming pioneers in Ventura County. The household emigrated from Germany and settled within the Oxnard space within the late 1800s, farming sugar beets and lima beans earlier than shifting into citrus, then row crops.
The county’s agricultural business was valued at greater than $2.1 billion in 2022, based on the agricultural commissioner.
Naumann described the significance of water administration within the area in a 2017 video posted on YouTube by the United Water Conservation District.
“It is advisable to have water, we have to seize it, use it properly, a number of instances over, whether or not it’s recycled water, whether or not it’s desalters, whether or not it’s irrigation water reused,” he mentioned. “Everybody realizes how valuable a useful resource and asset it’s, and with out that, our life goes to vary tremendously.”
Naumann is scheduled to be sentenced Might 24. He was launched on his personal recognizance.
He’s anticipated to be sentenced to 30 days in Ventura County Jail, ordered to pay full restitution and positioned on probation for 2 years, based on the district lawyer.
