California
An ex-California official quietly stole over $1.5 million of water in a heist that lasted decades, but mysteries remain
A former California official pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal more than $1.5 million of water, but the decadeslong water heist case still has more questions than answers.
Dennis Falaschi served as the general manager of the Panoche Water District in Fresno and Merced Counties, located in central California, from around 1986 to 2017. The public water district bought water from the federal government and collected drainage water from farms, both of which it then legally sold to farmers in the area, according to a statement issued by the US attorney’s office for the Eastern District of California on Tuesday.
But after Falaschi discovered some of the federally owned water was leaking from an old pipe into a separate canal, the pipe was modified so it could be open and closed, allowing water to be taken “on demand,” prosecutors said.
The US attorney said Falaschi was responsible for stealing somewhere between $1.5 million and $3.5 million worth of water. Prosecutors also said that between 2011 and 2016 Falaschi was paid for water that he had sourced legally, but he did not report the income on his tax returns.
In a plea agreement filed Thursday, Falaschi pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to take federally owned water and one count of filing a false tax return.
A lawyer for Falaschi did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. His sentencing is set for September.
While the plea provides some answers, many questions remain in the case that farmers in the San Joaquin Valley have been watching for years.
When Falaschi was indicted in 2022, prosecutors painted him as the mastermind of a plot that lasted from around 1992 to 2015 in which more than $25,000,000 worth of water was stolen from the federal government, or more than 130,000 acre-feet of water.
The indictment said proceeds from the theft, which should’ve gone to the federal government, instead when to Falaschi and eight co-conspirators in the form of “exorbitant salaries, fringe benefits, and personal expense reimbursements.”
The Los Angeles Times, which published a deep-dive into the alleged heist in April, reported that while some farmers were angry with Falaschi, others described him as the “Robin Hood of irrigation,” ensuring they could get the water they needed.
Falaschi’s plea agreement claims he’s responsible for stealing only a fraction of the original $25 million prosecutors accused him of taking in the original indictment. The plea agreement also said Falaschi was one of several people involved in the misconduct and that he was unaware of the full extent of the misconduct.
Of the water Falaschi took, the plea agreement said almost all of it was taken to “blend down and reuse drainage water, which helped protect farmland and improve water quality in the San Joaquin River.”
“The improved water quality contributed to the San Joaquin River being removed from the list of impaired waters under California’s Clean Water Act,” the plea agreement said, adding, “There was no evidence that Mr. Falaschi directly benefitted from the misconduct.”
The Times reported the plea raises even more questions about who was stealing the water, who was making money off of it, and why it took the federal government so long to notice.
The mystery surrounding the case continues as water use in the state coms under increasing scrutiny, with droughts and water shortages forcing California officials to reconsider how water is used and allotted.
California
Chance of more showers in L.A., with a new storm set to hit Thursday
Showers could linger in Los Angeles on Tuesday following four straight days of rain — and even more rain is likely on Thursday and Friday.
There’s a 20% to 30% of showers and thunderstorms Tuesday across much of Los Angeles County, the National Weather Service said, although it’s expected to be mostly sunny. The thunderstorms will remain a slight risk because of a cold front that ushered in unstable air Monday.
By Tuesday, the cold front will have moved away from L.A., but the cold core of the low-pressure system will still be around. “This will bring enough instability to the area for a slight chance of thunderstorm development,” the weather service in Oxnard said.
Temperatures have chilled with the latest storm. While the L.A. coast and San Gabriel Valley on Monday reached the mid-60s, due to late arriving rain, most of L.A. County’s coastal areas and valleys “struggled to get out of the 50s,” the weather service said.
Wednesday will bring a reprieve with sunny skies, but another storm is expected to enter Southern California on Thursday and continue through Friday.
Thursday’s storm is expected to drop from 0.25 to 0.75 inches of precipitation. That’s on top of the 0.74 inches of rain that fell on downtown L.A. in the 24-hour period that ended at 9 p.m. Monday. Before that, the weekend storm that began Friday brought 2.68 inches of rain to downtown.
For the 24-hour period ending 9 p.m. Monday, Porter Ranch received 1.61 inches; La Cañada Flintridge, 1.5; Northridge, 1.43; Bel-Air, 1.21; Castaic, 1.15; Van Nuys, 1.12; and Beverly Hills, 1.11.
Warm Springs Camp, in the mountains overlooking the Santa Clarita Valley, recorded an 18-hour rainfall total of 2.5 inches by Monday evening.
The storms, thus far, have caused some mayhem but no severe or life-threatening damage in recently burned areas.
By late Monday night, landslides and flooding were reported on a number of roads. The 5 Freeway near Highway 14, between Sylmar and Santa Clarita, suffered flooding Monday afternoon, as did an offramp on the 91 Freeway at Carmenita Road. The California Highway Patrol said there was flooding at onramps to the 10 Freeway in El Monte and the 605 Freeway on the southern border of Baldwin Park.
Mountain roads were hard hit. One motorist on Angeles Crest Highway, a road that winds through the San Gabriel Mountains, became “stuck in mud, dirt and rock” in a northbound lane, while the southbound lane was completely blocked with multiple landslides, according to reports filed to the National Weather Service. Snowplows couldn’t haul away the debris because it was too heavy.
Near the 101 Freeway in Hidden Hills, a number of vehicles hydroplaned as Round Meadow Road flooded near Mureau Road.
Monday afternoon and evening also brought rockslides or mudsldies to San Francisquito Canyon Road, the mountainous route that connects Santa Clarita to the Antelope Valley; a section of Kanan Dume Road, which leads into the Santa Monica Mountains from Malibu; and on Mulholland Highway south of Calabasas.
Snow levels were at around 7,000 feet on Monday but were expected to drop to 5,000 feet by Tuesday. Officials issued a winter weather advisory for the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and the northern Ventura County mountains that is set to last through Tuesday night. About 2 to 5 inches of snow could fall in the mountains.
“As for the Grapevine area, there is a chance of a dusting of snow Tuesday morning as the snow levels lower,” the weather service said. The Grapevine is a key travel corridor on the 5 Freeway that connects L.A. and Santa Clarita with the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area.
The highest point of the Grapevine section is the Tejon Pass, which peaks in elevation at 4,144 feet above sea level. At that location, “some non-accumulating snow is possible,” the weather service said.
California
New roller coaster coming to Legoland California and Florida
Legoland doesn’t have the same mindshare as a Disney or Universal resort, but Merlin Entertainments, the owner of those theme parks, is hoping to get onto the radar of more theme park enthusiasts with an upcoming $90 million expansion.
The Galacticoaster, scheduled to open in 2026 at both the Legoland Florida and Legoland California resorts, will be an indoor family coaster that’s themed to one of the first Lego space sets from the 1970s, when a 100-piece set was considered expansive.
This will be the first new roller coaster at Carlsbad’s Legoland California in nearly 20 years. In Winter Haven, Fla., it will be Legoland Florida’s first new coaster in 15 years.
Legoland hasn’t offered a lot of details about the coaster just yet. The building that will house it, however, will have the same footprint as 10 basketball courts. The track will be more than 1,500 feet long.
California’s Lego Galaxy expansion will also feature two additional themed rides, food and gift shop offerings, and a “Junior Astronaut Training Zone” for toddlers.
Legoland’s expansion comes as Disney is in the midst of a $60 billion capital investment between now and 2033, which includes a variety of planned updates and changes at its park, updating legacy attractions and unveiling what it called “the largest ever” expansion plans for the Magic Kingdom. The company is also adding seven ships to its cruise line fleet, including the Destiny, which will begin sailing on Nov. 20.
Universal, meanwhile, recently launched Epic Universe, a $6 billion new theme park that spans 110 acres, with hundreds more for expansion. Universal, in August, said revenue at its parks was up 19% thanks to Epic Universe.
A $90 million expansion doesn’t come close to matching those numbers, but Legoland doesn’t have to fight at the same level as those companies. Merlin Entertainment, earlier this year, said annual sales hit a record high last year, with revenues jumping 8% to £2.1 billion (about $2.8 billion) in 2024.
Beyond Legoland, Merlin owns the Madame Tussauds museums and the Orlando Wheel at Icon Park, Central Florida’s tallest ferris wheel.
California
Lingering thunderstorms bring flooding risk after atmospheric river drenches much of California – WTOP News
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful atmospheric river had mostly moved through California after causing at least six deaths and…
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A powerful atmospheric river had mostly moved through California after causing at least six deaths and dousing much of the state, but lingering thunderstorms brought the risk of mudslides in areas of Los Angeles County that were recently ravaged by wildfire.
Flood advisories remained in place through Sunday afternoon for LA, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, where localized showers were still possible after heavy downpours on Friday and Saturday.
“Due to the abundant rainfall the past couple of days, it will not take as much rainfall to cause additional flooding/rockslide conditions,” the National Weather Service said in a Sunday update.
Authorities on Sunday were still searching for a 5-year-old girl who was swept into the ocean by 15-foot (4.6-meter) waves at a state beach in Monterey County on Friday. The girl’s father, 39-year-old Yuji Hu, of Calgary, Alberta, was killed while trying to save his daughter, sheriff’s officials said.
In Sutter County north of Sacramento, a 71-year-old man died Friday after his vehicle was swept off a flooded bridge, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Off the coast of San Diego, a wooden boat believed to have been ferrying migrants toward the U.S. from Mexico capsized in stormy seas, leaving at least four people dead and four hospitalized, the Coast Guard said Saturday.
The long plume of tropical moisture that formed over the Pacific Ocean began drenching the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday night and then unleashed widespread rain over Southern California on Friday and Saturday. More than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain fell over coastal Santa Barbara County as the storm approached Los Angeles. Parts of the Sierra Nevada received more than a foot of snow.
The weather service said scattered rain could continue through Tuesday in the southern part of the state. Another storm was expected to arrive on Thursday.
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