On Wednesday, April 29, the San Bernardino Police Department carried out what many considered to be a long-overdue operation to interrupt and definitively shutter vice activity at the spot which serves as the world’s primary window on not just the county seat but San Bernardino County as a whole.
Exit 44a off of the I-215 Freeway brings travelers to the very heart of San Bernardino, which is encapsulated in the California Department of Transportation sign heralding “5th Street” and “Civic Center,” along with the symbol for Route 66. That attracts those who have come from other areas of the United States who might want to see the storied and historic local for its own sake and reputation. The In-N-Out Burger, Starbucks, Sonic Drive-In, Del Taco, Panda Express and 7-Eleven that are all prominently visible along the first two blocks on the east side of the freeway also serve as an inducement for travelers to exit there.
Very close by, less than a full city block north of 5th Street and south of 6th Street, at the northwest corner of H Street and the minor arterial Spruce Street West is the Sunshine Hotel at 570 North H Street.
The Sunshine Hotel, like the Golden Star Inn, located roughly an eighth of a mile west at 658 5th Street, is a motel that has been upgraded by the hospitality venue booking industry as a variously-rated two-star or three-star “hotel,” but which more than a generation ago had become a contact point between those in the illicit street drug-selling trade and a venue for prostitution as much as a place for travelers to spend the night. The presence of the Sunshine Hotel and the Golden Star Inn at the gateway to San Bernardino, both between four and seven blocks away from San Bernardino City Hall, the Guatemalan and Mexican consulates and six and eight blocks from the campus for the San Bernardino County’s government center/administrative headquarters and both of San Bernardino County’s historic and primary courthouses, have been a major embarrassment to both county and city officialdom and have served as an unintentional metaphor what is widely considered to be governance steeped in corruption. Continue reading →

Bribes and kickbacks vectored to Fontana’s former city manager nearly two generations ago will continue to haunt the city’s residents well into the future, including hundreds or even thousands who have yet to move into the community.
The Fontana City Council on March 10 unanimously adopted a resolution to establish a Mello Roos community facilities district within the long-existent Southridge community in the city’s southwest quadrant. That action was the followed with confirming action by the entirety of the council at its April 14, 2026 and April 28, 2026 meetings. The council’s action, in creating the municipal subdivision labeled it City of Fontana Community Facilities District No. 117 (Southridge), and authorized it to levy a “special tax” within the boundaries of the community facilities district for the purpose of financing certain public facilities and services.
Community services districts, particularly those created under the auspices of the Mello Roos Act and the Marx Roos Act, are areas within a larger city or county subject to “special taxes” in addition to property tax that is normally borne by property and/or homeowners in those jurisdictions. The tax districts established by cities, counties, school districts, or other local agencies to fund public infrastructure and services such as roads, schools, parks, water systems, and fire/police stations.
Historically in California, the cost of providing that infrastructure and both on-site and off-site improvements fell to the landowners and developers of property. Then-assemblymen Assemblyman Henry Mello and Assemblyman Mike Roos sponsored the Marx-Roos and Mello-Roos acts partially as a sop to local officials, whose political campaigns in large measure were funded by real estate and developmental interests and were therefore interest in transferring the financial burden of parks, water systems, and fire/police stations.
constructing the infrastructure needed to accompany development from the developers and the landowners to the eventual buyers of the property – i.e., the houses – those developers built on the land owned by the landowners. This substantially increased the profits of those involved in the development industry. Continue reading →

A multitude of factors both benign and pernicious resulted in the government’s official survey of the total number of homeless throughout San Bernardino County this year reflecting a decline for the second straight year.
There are grounds, based on the methodology, circumstance, secrecy and politics surrounding the tallying to question the accuracy of both the basic and comparative numbers arrived at. Nevertheless, the San Bernardino County 2026 Point-in-Time Count conducted this year on January 22 stands as the most comprehensive and meaningful effort to obtain an understanding of the extent of a primary social problem plaguing not only local communities but the region, state and nation.
Though the 21,105 square mile county saw an overall reduction of more than tree percent in the number of visible homeless this year over last, the primary attrition took place place, essentially, in the county’s East, Central and West Valleys, while some of the High Desert communities north of Cajon Pass experienced increases in their homeless populations.
The homeless count and subpopulation survey has been commissioned, i.e., mandated, by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, referred to by it acronym HUD, since 2003, requesting that local homeless continuum of care systems carry out the counts of homeless individuals and families during the last 10 days of January or first ten days of February in order to receive Housing and Urban Development grant funds. Continue reading →

Between April 13 and 19, investigators with the sheriff’s gangs/narcotics division led targeted crime suppression efforts as part of Operation Consequences.
The gang suppression unit, together with combined forces with the San Bernardino County Probation, the California Highway Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations and the San Bernardino Police Department to obtain search warrants that were ultimately served on April 17.
Additional support came from the Rialto, Ontario, Montclair, Colton and Barstow police departments, as well as the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s Division of Adult Parole Operations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Simultaneously, the San Bernardino movement against street hoodlums (SMASH) street enforcement team (SET) personnel from the sheriff’s specialized enforcement division and multiple patrol stations conducted proactive patrols in the High Desert and surrounding jurisdictions.
An area of intense focus in the coordinated operations was Hesperia and surrounding communities. As a result, investigators contacted gang members and persons prohibited from possessing firearms. Investigators made 43 felony arrests and 33 misdemeanor arrests. Nearly 12 pounds of suspected narcotics were seized, including suspected cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl. Investigators seized 76 firearms during the operation, which included 10 ghost guns. Continue reading →

Both Interpol and the FBI have joined the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department’s investigation into the disappearance of Naiping Hou, the father of cryptocurrency mogul Wen Hou, the Sentinel has learned.
Suspects in Naiping Hou’s 2025 disappearance include personages inside and outside of both California and the country, including foreigners who may have come into California under false pretenses and identities in December 2024 and initiated contact with the then-74-year-old in Rancho Cucamonga in what was apparently a successful effort to gain his trust before abducting him and seizing control of his assets.
Investigators have reached the conclusion that there was most certainly foul play involved in the elder Hou’s disappearance and that he is dead.
Hou was last seen in March 2025. A month-and-a-half later, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, which serves as the contract police department in Rancho Cucamonga, took the matter up as a missing person’s case. The Sentinel has confirmed that information turned up in the course of that investigation and other developments strongly indicates Hou was kidnapped.
That kidnapping, investigators have come to believe, was not undertaken for ransom, but rather to directly force Hou to turn money over to his abductors. Continue reading →

Ofland Hotels has given up on its plan, for which it was given an entitlement last July by the Twentynine Palms City, to construct what it had described as a luxury eco-resort near the entrance to Joshua Tree National Park.
Ofland, which is headed by Charles Tate and Luke Searcy and at that time was based in Houston Texas, on July 22, 2025 obtained the city council’s approval to build 100 guest cabins and 25 units of employee housing along with two lodges, a swimming pool and spas, recreational areas, playgrounds, restaurants and a bar on 42 acres at the center of a 152-acre site within the Indian Cove District on the north side of Twentynine, just off Highway 62.
The council’s action was taken in the context of city staff’s support of the proposal as well as a non-binding recommendation by the 29 Palms Planning Commission the previous month that the city council give the project go-ahead. At both the planning commission and city council hearings for the undertaking, there were significantly more residents voicing opposition to Ofland’s plan, which required a zone change from residential to tourist commercial, a general plan amendment and a conditional use permit to be allowed to proceed, than there were residents speaking in favor of it.
The project would have entailed a hundred cabins, two lodges, swimming pools, a stargazing area and an outdoor movie screen, and an on-site wastewater treatment plant capable of processing more than 13,000 gallons of effluent a day. Continue reading →

ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE FOR CHANGE OF NAME CASE
NUMBER 2608100,
TO ALL INTERESTED PERSONS: Petitioner Santiago Cerda, filed with this court for a decree changing names as follows: Santiago Stephen Cerda to Santiago Stephen McAuliffe.
THE COURT ORDERS that all persons interested in this matter appear before this court at the hearing indicated below to show cause, if any, why the petition for change of name should not be granted. Any person objecting to the name changes described above must file a written objection that includes the reasons for the objection at least two court days before the matter is scheduled to be heard and must appear at the hearing to show cause why the petition should not be granted. If no written objection is timely filed, the court may grant the petition without a hearing.
Notice of Hearing:
Date: 05/18/2026, Time: 08:30 AM, Department: 514The address of the court is Superior Court of California, County of San Bernardino, San Bernardino District-Civil Division, 247 West Third Street, San Bernardino, CA 92415, IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be published in the SBCS Rancho Cucamonga in San Bernardino County California, once a week for four successive weeks prior to the date set for hearing of the petition.
Dated: 04/01/2026
Judge of the Superior Court: Joseph T. Ortiz
Published in the SBCS Rancho Cucamonga on 04/10/2026, 04/17/2026, 04/24/2026, 05/01/2026

NOTICE OF PUBLIC LIEN SALE
Notice is hereby given that personal property in the following units will be sold at public auction pursuant to Sections 21701-21716 of the California Self-Service Storage Facility Act. A public lien sale will be conducted by www.storagetreasures.com on the 1st day of May 2026, at or after 9:00 am. The property is stored by All American Storage Ontario located at 505 S. Mountain Avenue, Ontario, CA 91762. Purchases must be made in CASH ONLY. Items are sold AS IS WHERE IS and must be removed at the time of sale. All American Storage Ontario reserves the right to refuse any bid or cancel auction. The items to be sold are generally described as follows: miscellaneous personal and household goods stored by the following persons:
Unit Name
D035 Tracy Atkins
C037 Maanami Butler
D062 Juan Hernandez
D076 Jessi J Menjivar
Dated: 04/15/2026
Signed: Garrett Gossett
storagetreasures.com
Sales subject to prior cancellation in the event of settlement between Owner and obligated party.
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on April 17, 2026 and April 24, 2026

FBN20260003035
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
CASTANEDA BACKHOE 1958 S. OAKLAND AVENUE ONTARIO, CA 91762: ADOLFO CASTANEDA
Business Mailing Address: 1958 S. OAKLAND AVENUE ONTARIO, CA 91762
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: NOVEMBER 1, 2025.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130). I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
/s/ ADOLFO CASTANEDA, Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 4/06/2026
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J1808
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on April 10, 17 & 24 and May 1, 2026.

FBN20260003058
The following entity is doing business primarily in San Bernardino County as
MADD.CUSTOMZ 13289 16th STREET CHINO, CA 91710: JOSE R MADRIGAL
Business Mailing Address: 13289 16th STREET CHINO, CA 91710
The business is conducted by: AN INDIVIDUAL.
The registrant commenced to transact business under the fictitious business name or names listed above on: N/A.
By signing, I declare that all information in this statement is true and correct. A registrant who declares as true information which he or she knows to be false is guilty of a crime (B&P Code 179130). I am also aware that all information on this statement becomes Public Record upon filing.
/s/ JOSE R MADRIGAL, Owner
Statement filed with the County Clerk of San Bernardino on: 4/07/2026
I hereby certify that this copy is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office San Bernardino County Clerk By:/Deputy J9535
Notice-This fictitious name statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the office of the county clerk. A new fictitious business name statement must be filed before that time. The filing of this statement does not of itself authorize the use in this state of a fictitious business name in violation of the rights of another under federal, state, or common law (see Section 14400 et seq., Business and Professions Code).
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on April 10, 17 & 24 and May 1, 2026.

Continue reading →

By Richard Hernandez and Mark Gutglueck
A string of seemingly unrelated, semi-related and related events has, apparently, pushed San Bernardino County to the forefront of the controversy over Donald Trump Administration’s intensified crackdown on illegal immigration.
A noteworthy element of the matter is the recent sharp reversal in the unexpected leniency toward those present in the country without federal government authorization which was evinced by the Inland Empire’s leading law enforcement figures last year. This has stirred up a degree of confusion, indeed uncertainty, that has impacted just how outgoing, sociable and willing a significant segment of the community is to interact openly and frequent many public locations or governmental facilities.
The contrast in the attitude and approach of those in the Joseph Biden Administration with that shown by the functionaries in the Trump Administration regarding the proliferation of undocumented immigrants in the United States was a major focus in the traditional and newfangled media throughout the four years Biden was in office and grew into a pointed issue as first Biden and then Kamala Harris served as the presumptive and then the actual Democratic nominee in the 2024 presidential election.
At one point during the campaign, Trump had charged that 21 million immigrants had poured across the U.S. borders while Biden was president. Biden’s team was willing to concede that the actual number was only half of that, at somewhere between 10 million and 11 million. In the aftermath of Trump’s victory over Harris, amplified immigration enforcement was widely anticipated, although the extent to which it would occur among the general public was unknown. Continue reading →

Governor Gavin Newsom late last month esignated John Balla, whose relatively short but compact legal career is studded with an array of federal law enforcement agency assignments, to serve as a judge in the San Bernardino Superior Court.
According to Governor Newsom’s office,
“John Balla, of San Bernardino County, has been appointed to serve as a Judge in the San Bernardino County Superior Court. Balla has served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California since 2024, where he was also an Assistant U.S. Attorney from 2019 to 2024 and a Deputy Chief from 2021 to 2024 and from 2025 to 2026. He served as a Senior Attorney at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in 2024. Balla served as an Assistant U.S. Attorney at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico from 2015 to 2019. He worked as an Associate at Best, Best & Krieger in 2015. Balla served as a Law Clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas from 2013 to 2015. Balla received a Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.” Continue reading →