By Bobbi Jo Chavarria
Mayor Acquanetta Warren is using her authority and status to manipulate the political landscape in 208,393-population Fontana to maintain the ironfisted sway she has over City Hall. To keep her ruling coalition intact, she has flooded several electoral zones with ersatz Hispanic candidates to dilute the Latino vote and gerrymandered districts to insulate her handpicked candidates from their strongest rivals. In doing so, she has created pockets of residents who will need to go six years before they will have the ability to choose the member of the city to council to represent them.
Machiavellian though her tactics may be, Warren has played within the rules of politics as they exist under California law.
Remarkably, Warren, a Republican who heads up a ruling council majority that includes three Republican men, has carried this off in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. Continue reading →

 Former Ontario Planning Commissioner Gabe Chavez, who was subsequently appointed to the San Bernardino County Planning Commission, was involved with former Baldwin Park Councilman and West Valley Water District Assistant General Manager Ricardo Pacheco in a bribery and laundering scheme related to the granting of marijuana-related business operating permits, it has been revealed.
Previously, there was a degree of mystery over what the circumstances were and why Chavez had abruptly resigned as a county planning commissioner almost two years ago, in the immediate aftermath of an FBI raid upon his home and office 29 months after he had been appointed to the county land use authority panel.
Chavez has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for funneling bribes through his company to a corrupt Baldwin Park politician in exchange for the politician’s votes and influence over his city’s cannabis permitting process, the Justice Department announced today.
Chavez, 65, of Upland, agreed to plead guilty to a one-count criminal information charging him with bribery. Both the information and Chavez’s plea agreement were filed today, Friday October 7, in United States District Court, and Chavez is expected to enter a guilty plea in the coming weeks. Continue reading →

While it is doubtful that the comprehensive mix of water users who fall under the aegis of the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority will meet the goal of reducing water drafting in the region by all entities to 7,650 acre-feet by 2040, projects being undertaken by that joint powers authority will bring the area much closer to the idealized balance of water use envisaged by the state.
In 2015, in the aftermath of a four-year running drought and a determination by the California Department of Water Resources that the Indian Wells Valley is one of the 21 basins throughout the State of California in critical overdraft, the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority was formed, pursuant to a joint exercise of powers agreement involving Kern County, San Bernardino County, Inyo County, the City of Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley Water District as general members and the United States Navy and the United States Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management as associate members. Continue reading →

Former Adelanto Councilman Jermaine Wright, who sought to use his elected position to personally profit when he and his council colleagues moved to transform the city they led into the “marijuana capital of California,” was sentenced on Monday, October 3 to 60 months in federal prison.
After a six-day trial that began in late spring, Wright was convicted in federal court on June 22 of accepting a $10,000 cash bribe and hiring a man to burn down his restaurant so he could fraudulently collect hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance proceeds. His offenses qualified as prosecutable under federal statutes in that the city had received federal funds and the attempted arson he was involved in involved an insurance company doing business nationwide, such that his action potentially affected interstate commerce.
Wright, 46, of Riverside, was sentenced by United States District Judge Jesus G. Bernal, who had also presided over his trial. Continue reading →

Two men involved in the public educational system in San Bernardino County were recently convicted of sexual crimes that targeted students.
Former San Bernardino City Unified School District Assistant Superintendent Perry Philip Wiseman on September 29 pleaded guilty to distributing child pornography after prosecutors consented to dismissing a parallel felony child pornography distribution charge that was lodged against him three years ago.
Wiseman, now 45, was the assistant superintendent for human resources when he was arrested at his Highland home on August 16, 2019, based upon evidence developed by the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department that he had downloaded from the internet sexually explicit images of children. He was placed on administrative leave and later resigned his position with the district.
According to investigators, in his administrative role dealing with the hiring of district personnel, he did not have regular contact with students. Nor did the images found on his computer appear to depict students with the district. Continue reading →

SUMMONS – (FAMILY LAW)
NOTICE TO RESPONDENT (AVISO AL DEMANDADO): RICHARD KENNETH JOHNSON
YOU HAVE BEEN SUED. Read the information below and on the next page. Lo han demandado. Lea la informacion a continuacion y en la pagina siguiente.
PETITIONER’S NAME IS (Nombre del demandante): REBECCA GAIL JOHNSON
CASE NUMBER FAMSB2201452
You have 30 CALENDAR DAYS after this Summons and Petition are served on you to file a Response (Form FL-120) at the court and have a copy served on the petitioner. A letter or phone call will not protect you. If you do not file your Response on time, the court may make orders affecting your marriage or domestic partnership, your property, and custody of your children. You may be ordered to pay support and attorney fees and costs. For legal advice, contact a lawyer immediately. Get help finding a lawyer at the California Courts Online Self-Help Center (www.courtinfo.cagov/selfhelp), at the California Legal Services Website (www.lawhelpcalifornia.org), or by contacting your local county bar association.
Tiene 30 DIAS DE CALENDARIO después de haber recibido la entrega legal de esta Citacion y Peticion para presentar una Respuesta (formulario FL-120) ante la corte y efectuar la entrega legal de una copia al demandante. Una carta o liamada telefonica o una audiencia de la corte no basta para protegerio. Si no presenta su Respuesta a tiemp, la corte puede dar ordenes que afecten su matrimonio o pareja de heco, sus bienes y la custodia de sus hijos. La corte tambien le puede ordenar que pague manutencion, y honorarios y costos legales. Para asesoramiento legal, pongase en contacto de inmediato con un abogado. Puede obtener informacion para encontrar un abogado en el Contro de Ayuda de las Cortes de California (www.sucorte.ca.gov), en el sitio web de los Servicios Legales de California (www.lahelpca.org) o poniendose en contacto con el colegio de abodgados de su condado.
NOTICE – Restraining orders on page 2: These restraining orders are effective against both spouses or domestic partners until the petition is dismissed, a judgment is entered, or the court makes further orders. They are enforceable anywhere in California by any law enforcement office who has received or seen a copy of them.
AVISO – Las ordenes de restriction se encuentran en la pagina 2 : Las ordenes de restriccion estan en vigencia en cuanto a ambos conyuges o miembros de la pareja de hecho hasta que se despida la peticion, se emita un fallo o la corte de otras ordenes. Cualquier agencia del orden publico que haya rocibido o visto una copia de estas ordenes puede hacerlas acatar en cualquier lugar de California.
FEE WAIVER : If you cannot pay the filing fee, ask the clerk for a fee waiver form. The court may order you to pay back all or part of the fees and costs that the court waived for you or the other party.
Exencion de cuotas : Si no puede pagar la cuota de presentacion, pida al secretario un formulario de execion de cuotas. La corte puede ordenar que ested pague, ya sea en parte o por completo, las cuotas y costos de la corte previamente exentos a peticion de usted o de la otra parte.
FL-100 PETITION FOR Nullity of: Marriage
1. LEGAL RELATIONSHIP: We are married.
2. RESIDENCE REQUIREMENTS: a. Petitioner has been a resident of this state for at least six months and of this country for at least three months immediately preceding the filing of this petition. (For divorce, at least one person in the legal relationship described in items 1a and 1c must comply with this requirement.)
3. STATISTICAL FACTS
(1) Date of marriage: 2-6-1991 Date of Separation: (2) 10-1-93
(3) Time from date of marriage until time of separation: 2 years and 7 months 4.
MINOR CHILDREN: There are no minor children.
5. LEGAL GROUNDS: (2) bigamy
8. SPOUSAL OR DOMESTIC PARTNER SUPPORT: Terminate (end) the court’s ability to ward support to Petitioner [and] Respondent.
SEPARATE PROPERTY: There are no such assets or debts that I know of to be confirmed by the court.
COMMUNITY AND QUASI-COMMUNITY PROPERTY: There are no such assets or debts that I know of to be divided by the court.
OTHER REQUESTS: Petitioner’s name to be restored to REBECCA GAIL JONES.
The name and address of the court is: (El nombre y dirrecion de la corte son):
SUPERIOR COURT OF SAN BERNARDINO
351 N. ARROWHEAD AVE
SAN BERNARDINO, CA 92415
The name, address and telephone number of petitioner’s attorney, or petitioner without an attorney, are: (El nombre, direccion y numero de telefono del abogado del demandante, o del demendante si no tiene abogado, son):
IN PRO PER
REBECCA GAIL JOHNSON
10672 BRYANT ST., SPACE 57
YUCAIPA, CA 92399
Phone: (909) 327 -8387
email: rjohns1957@yahoo.com
Summons filed: FEBRUARY 4, 2022 by Hilda Sanchez (Asistente) for Clerk of the Court (Secretario)
Case filed: June 23, 2022 by Sydney Oriega
This case is assigned to Commissioner Shannon Gerber Department S 44
Published in The San Bernardino County Sentinel on 9/16, 9/23, 9/30 & 10/07, 2022. Continue reading →