Latest news with #MicheleBeckwith
San Francisco Chronicle
23-05-2025
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
Lumber company to pay $200K settlement over El Dorado County wildfire
Sierra Pacific Industries agreed to pay more than $200,000 in damages over a 2021 wildfire that started on the company's land, the United States Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of California said Thursday. On Jan. 19, 2021, a fire began in a timber slush pile, U.S. Forest Service investigators found, that 'escaped containment' during a windy weather event in El Dorado County. The fire — which was known as the Cold Fire — sparked on Sierra Pacific Industries' land and burned 29 acres, including land in the Eldorado National Forest. 'Our office will continue to hold individuals and corporations responsible for damages caused by wildfires,' Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said in a statement. 'Every fire impacting federal lands, no matter the size, is a priority.' The lumber company, which is based in Anderson (Shasta County), settled with the federal government's claims, but there was 'no determination of liability,' the attorney's office said. 'These settlements are essential in restoring our landscapes after wildfires,' said U.S. Forest Service Pacific Southwest Acting Regional Forest Jason Kuiken in a statement. Sierra Pacific Industries is one of the largest timber companies in the United States, the company's website said, and owns and manages more than 2.4 million acres in California, Oregon and Washington. The company also sells windows and produces renewable energy. 'SPI is committed to managing its lands in a responsible and sustainable manner to protect the environment while providing quality wood products and renewable power for consumers,' the company's website said. 'To SPI, sustainable forest management means more than just planting trees.' Sierra Pacific Industries did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Yahoo
Bakersfield man pleads guilty to federal drug charges
A Bakersfield man pleaded guilty Monday to possessing a variety of illegal drugs with the intent to distribute them, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith announced in a news release. The release said law enforcement officers served a federal search warrant Aug. 10, 2023, at a Bakersfield "stash house" set up for the sale of psilocybin mushrooms and marijuana. It added that a stolen firearm was seized in the sales area. Thirty-three-year-old Ramon Maldonado Jr. was found in bed in one of the bedrooms, the release said, along with a bag of psilocybin mushrooms, a plastic tote containing psilocybin, marijuana wax and edibles. It said there was also a tote containing jars and bags of marijuana, a bag of heroin, a bag of fentanyl, bindles of fentanyl and heroin and a Ruger .22-caliber rifle with a magazine inserted in it. Agents also located fentanyl in a separate bedroom, including a kilogram "brick" of fentanyl bearing the Louis Vuitton imprint, the release said, and in the kitchen of the residence they found a plastic bag with methamphetamine near five semi-automatic pistol magazines. "In total, agents seized 5.5 pounds of fentanyl, 25.9 pounds of psilocybin, 23.4 pounds of marijuana, 20 ounces of heroin and 1.15 ounces of methamphetamine," the release said. The case results from cooperation from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Kern County Probation Office Gang Unit and the Bakersfield Police Department. Maldonado faces 10 years to life in prison along with a $10 million fine when he is sentenced Aug. 4 by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
Red Bluff man charged in federal child sex abuse case
A federal grand jury returned a three-count indictment on Feb. 13 charging a Red Bluff resident with two counts of sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of visual depictions of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, said acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith. In April 2024, Ricardo Gutierrez, 27, reportedly used four children to create at least two videos of the children engaged in sexually explicit conduct, according to federal court document, additionally, between November 2023 and July 2024, the he allegedly distributed several videos and images of prepubescent children, including infants, involved in sexually explicit conduct to others. Beckwith reported, if convicted of sexual exploitation of a child, Gutierrez faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of 30 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, restitution, and a $250,000 fine, and if convicted of distribution of visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum statutory penalty of 20 years in prison, a lifetime of supervised release, restitution, and a fine. Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables, she explained. This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse. Led by the United States Attorneys' Offices and the Criminal Division's Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section, Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state, and local resources to locate, apprehend, and prosecute those who sexually exploit children, and to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit Click on the 'resources' tab for information about internet-safety education. This case is the product of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Whitnee Goins is prosecuting the case.
