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 →

By Mark Gutglueck
Another element of Councilman Alan Wapner’s campaign for mayor is vectoring attention to the pay-for-play ethos and graft that has infested politics and governance in Ontario for a generation.
Wapner has been in place on the city council since 1994. Over that more-than-three-decade-long period, he has proven to be the most generously financially endowed politician among all of San Bernarino County’s local elected officials, having received over $3.2 million in donations to his various political funds, primarily into his city council electioneering war chest.
With some exceptions, the list of the major donors to Wapner’s campaign fund represents a virtual who’s who of the entities which have obtained clearance from the City of Ontario for development projects or which have contracts for goods and/or services with or franchises granted by the city or the various governmental agencies/joint powers authorities Mr. Wapner represents or heads.
There is a widespread perception that donating money to Alan Wapner to assist him in perpetuating his political career is a requisite for those who have applications for approval of development projects being considered by the Ontario planning division, business owners who are seeking a contract with the city or those who are competing for a city franchise if they want the project approved, to obtain the contract or to be granted the franchise. Continue reading →

Despite the Morongo Unified School District being San Bernardino County’s largest school district geographically at 1,342.44 square miles, there are 17 other school districts in the county with a more substantial student enrollment.
With 11 elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools, the number of students in the district had climbed to 8,005 at the beginning of the 2020–2021 school year, when in-class instruction had been suspended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and hit 9,301 by the end of that school year. Enrollment neared or eclipsed 10,000 before the end of 2021-22 and at the beginning of 2022-23, but has dropped of since. Prognostication suggest that by 2031, the number of students in the district will have attrited to approximately 6,821.
According to the district, student enrollment reached roughly 10,000 at one point but is down to around 7,300 now.
Schools within the district consist of Condor Elementary School in Twentynine Palms, located on the grounds of the US Marine Corps Base; Friendly Hills Elementary School; Joshua Tree Elementary School; Landers Elementary School; Morongo Valley Elementary School; Oasis Elementary School in Twentynine Palms; Onaga Elementary School in Yucca Valley; Palm Vista Elementary School in Twentynine Palms; Twentynine Palms Elementary School; Yucca Mesa Elementary School, which offers instruction from Kindergarten to the 8th grade; Yucca Valley Elementary School along with La Contenta Middle School in Yucca Valley; Twentynine Palms Junior High School, which was the original all purpose elementary, jurnior high abd high school in the town in the 1950s, as well as Twentynine Palms High School, Yucca Valley High School and Black Rock Continuation High School,
The Palm Vista, Landers and Morongo Valley elementary schools have fewer than 350 students each and at present are receiving in per diem reimbursements for those students’ daily attendance an amount of money from the state that in total is less than what it is costing the district to operate them.
SchoolWorks Inc., a consulting firm retained by the district, has suggested that the district close at least one and perhaps all three of the underattened schools as well as, perhaps, Friendly Hills. This would require that the district defray the cost of bussing students a considerable distance to the next closest campus, including six busses roughly 16 miles from back and forth from Landers to Joshua Tree six days a week.
Some parents, students and teachers at or associated with the schools tentatively targeted for closure have expressed opposition to the closure option.
In January, the district formed an enrollment advisory committee.
Between that committee, SchoolWorks Inc., Superintendent Patricio Vargas and other senior district staff, options on how the district should deal with the declining enrollment have been outlined. While campus closures are not the only solution, according to Vargas the most sensiblel way of approaching the matter is to contemplate the closure of at least one of the schools by August 2027 at the beginning of the 2027-28 school year with further closures to follow thereafter.
On April 9 at a committee meeting, Vargas broached this as “a gradual decrease in the number of schools and adjustment of busing routes.”
Vargas said the district could, if it chose, leave all schools in place and open, make some school attendance boundary changes and live with the enrollment in as many as eight of the district’s 11 elementary schools have their enrollment fall below 350 by 2031.

The district could, Vargas said, close Palm Vista, Landers and Morongo Valley elementary schools and reassign students to the closest campuses. This would entail the district adding eight bus routes, which would increase transportation costs by $3 million. The transportation cost increases would be matched or more than offset by savings from the school closures, Vargas said. Even with the shuttering of Palm Vista, Landers and Morongo Valley, he said three of the schools that would remain open would see their enrollments dip to below 350vy school year 2031-32.
The district could also, Vargas said, close Landers Elementary and bus those students to Yucca Mesa Elementary. This would require the addition of three bus routes with the maximum drive time for one such bus being 57 minutes, less than the current 72 minutes. This would put kindergarteners though 8th graders on the same buses as high school students. Six of the remaining ten elementary schools would see reductions in the number of their students to below 350 by 2031-32.
Another approach Vargas outlined would be for Morongo Valley Elementary to closs, with its students sent to Yucca Valley Elementary School. This would require the addition of two bus routes, in which the maximum trip time would drop from 67 to 56 minutes. Seven of the remaining ten schools would see an attrition to less than 350 students by 2031-32.
A contemplated move is the closure of Palm Vista, with the displaced students moved to either Oasis or Twentynine Palms Elementary. This would call for the addition of three bus routes, with students spending as many as 50 minutes going to school and 50 minutes returning home. Six of the district’s elementary schools would have fewer than 350 students by 2031-32 under this plan.
Some parents said that Vargas and other district officials were panicking needlessly and that state education officials, including those with the California’s Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team, which advises school districts on fiscal matters and traces the mismanagement of education funding, said the Morongo Unified School District’s closing of campuses was not necessary.
Some community members, including at least one member of the committee, were skeptical of refusals by Vargas and a so-called facilitator with SchoolWorks Inc., Dr. Stella Kemp, to disclose bottom lines on carryovers from the current 2025-26 budget and the numbers under preparation for the 2026-27 budget.
-Mark Gutglueck