Six of Edin Alex Enamorado’s co-defendants in three September 2023 incidents in which he and his followers engaged in swarm assaults on individuals they were targeting or bystanders inadvertently caught up in Enamorado’s self-styled crusade for justice this morning entered guilty pleas on single felony counts.

Enamorado, 36, a convicted felon and self-acknowledged “gang banger” who moved to the United States from Guatemala with his parents as an infant and was raised on the mean streets of Cudahy, claims he turned his life around about a decade ago when the gangland activity he was engaged in resulted in the shooting death of his girlfriend. Thereafter, he says, he committed himself to working toward the betterment of the society in which he lives. That included, Enamorado maintains, seeking social justice, including forcing a recognition that white Europeans who colonized the New World and then created the United States have usurped the land of the indigenous people of North America and have imposed on them an onerous, unfair and damaging capitalistic system.

One immediate element of Enamorado’s action plan was to resist local municipalities in their imposition of regulations and ordinances relating to street vending, which Enamorado maintains is an element of Latino culture that street vendors have a constitutional right to engage in. With his acolytes, whom he recruited both in person and through his use of various social media platforms, he has rallied to the locations where street vendors were confronted by law enforcement, municipal code enforcement, local business owners or citizens.

By Jennifer Oliver O’Connell
According to Article 2.1 of the San Bernardino GOP Bylaws, the mission of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee (SBCRCC) is to promote the republican form of representative government. In the last few years, it has been failing this mission miserably, and conservatives in San Bernardino feel the Central Committee Chair’s fingerprints are all over the wreckage.
Phil Cothran, Sr. is the BMIF—Big Man In Fontana. He is a lifelong resident of the Inland Empire city who has owned a successful insurance agency for almost 35 years. During that time, Cothran has worked his way into civic leadership and local and county power circles. Cothran is the president of the Fontana Chamber Of Commerce, president of Miss Fontana, Inc., chairman of the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Board, a reserve police officer with the Fontana Police Department, has served on the Fontana Planning Commission, and top of it all, he is chairman of the San Bernardino County Republican Central Committee. He prides himself on being a huge philanthropist. In 2014, the San Bernardino Sun wrote a puff piece on him, referencing him as the “Go-To Guy.”
The City of Fontana has a population of 216,330, having seen an increase of 7,710 since the 2020 Census was taken. Much of Phil Cothran Sr’s energy and attention have been devoted to Fontana. From a perusal of Fontana city pages and other San Bernardino Republican sites, some feel that focus has been at the expense of the San Bernardino County Central Committee. You see, Cothran obviously cares about growing his community. However, when you take on the position of chair of the county’s Republican Central Committee, then one’s focus should be on fundraising and promoting what is good for the entire county—not just a city of less than a quarter of a million people.
Some who have witnessed the ongoing erosion of the San Bernardino Republican Central Committee spoke with me on the condition of anonymity, others were quite open and vocal about their displeasure at the current state of affairs. Matthew Munson is one of the latter. Munson, who was the 2014 and 2018 Republican candidate for State Senate District 20 and has been heavily involved in county politics for the last decade, expressed his discomfiture. Continue reading →

San Bernardino County remains as a 20,105-square mile pocket of Republicanism within the Democrat-dominated California, one of the few areas within the 163,700-square-mile Golden State where Republicans have the upper hand. Nevertheless, Democratic Party leadership in the county is hailing advances that have been made and maintain momentum is trending their way, such that the rival party’s lock on local governance will significantly attenuated in the current election cycle and perhaps broken by 2026 or 2028.
In the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and halfway through the 1960s, San Bernardino County leaned predominantly Democratic, represented from January 1937 until January 1965 by Harry Sheppard, a New Deal Democrat. During his 14 terms in Congress, Sheppard was instrumental in bringing a host of benefits to the district he represented, including the construction of what were then two Army Air Corps bases, which later became Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino and George Air Force Base near Victorville. He was a firm and fast member of the Democratic establishment under President Roosevelt and then President Truman and by the time John Kennedy was elected President in 1960 he held status as one of the four or five dozen most powerful men in the country. Barely two months after the Lyndon Johnson administration had settled into 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Sheppard’s political authority evaporated within the span of a few days in January 1964, when he deposited a total of $275,000 in twelve different savings institutions in the Washington, D.C./Virginia/Maryland area. Sheppard’s faux pas in opening three separate $10,000 accounts – one penny below the threshold for an automatic report to the Internal Revenue Service – in each of eight savings and loan associations and then single deposits of $10,000 into three banks and one more of $5,000 into another bank in and near the nation’s capital brought much unwanted scrutiny when it was publicly revealed the following month. Most deemed unconvincing Sheppard’s explanation that the money was his life savings that he had kept as cash in a safe deposit box since his election to Congress some 27 years previously and that he had just gotten around to making preparations to ensure his wife’s future by making those deposits. He said he previously did not have time to manage his investments and didn’t want the income from putting the money into an interest-bearing account because that would have pushed him into a higher tax bracket. Neither the IRS, nor the U.S. Attorney’s Office nor any other authorities took action against Sheppard, but the revelation meant the end of his political career. He did not seek reelection that year, and he left office on January 3, 1965. Continue reading →

SUMMONS – (FAMILY LAW)
NOTICE TO RESPONDENT TOUNI SALHAB
AVISO AL DEMANDADO (Nombre):
YOU HAVE BEEN SUED. READ THE INFORMATION BELOW AND ON THE NEXT PAGE. LO HAN DEMANDADO. LEA INFORMACION A CONTINUACION Y EN LA PAGINA SIGUIENTE.
PETITIONER’S NAME IS:
(NOMBRE DEL DEMANDANTE):
SILVA KASHE
CASE NUMBER: FAMSB2400808,
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 judgement 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.
The name and address of the court is: (El nombre y dirrecion de la corte son):
COUNTY OF SAN BERNARDINO
SUPERIOR COURT OF CALIFORNIA
CENTRAL DISTRICT, FAMILY LAW DIVISION
351 N. ARROWHEAD AVE
SAN BERNARDINO, California 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):
SILVA KASHE
8255 VINEYARD AVE APT 700D
RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CALIFORNIA 91730
Telephone: 909-919-6122
DATE (Fecha): 01/29/2024
Clerk, by (Secretario, por) YVONNE TAYLOR (Asistente)
Published in the San Bernardino County Sentinel on 05/17/2024, 05/24/2024, 06/01/2024, 06/07/2024

Continue reading →

The homeless totals in San Bernardino County inched upwards in 2023, according to the annual point-in-time count of the dispossessed conducted in all 24 of the county’s municipalities and 57 of its unincorporated communities on January 24.
The 4,237 adults and children who were counted as homeless during the 2024 24-hour long survey were 42 more than the 4,194 people counted in January 2023, which represents an increase of 1.02527 percent.
There were 3,055 unsheltered homeless in the county in 2024, compared to 2,976 unsheltered countywide in 2024, an increase of 79 or 2.65 percent. Simultaneously, the number of sheltered homeless dropped from 1,219 in 2023 to 1,200 this year, a decrease of 1.583 percent.
In Adelanto there were 29 total homeless counted, 16 of whom were entirely unsheltered with 13 being temporarily put up in traditional housing units. The 29 are six fewer than the 35 total homeless in Adelanto last year. Continue reading →

The California Political Fair Practices Commission is proposing to assess against Adelanto City Councilman Daniel Ramos one of the largest fines that official watchdog agency has ever imposed on any local official.
According to the Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC), Ramos, who is currently Adelanto’s mayor pro tem, despite numerous notifications and posted requests that he do so, has not submitted campaign fund accounting paperwork for his unsuccessful 2018 campaign for the Victorville City Council and he has since repeatedly failed to provide an accounting of his victorious 2020 campaign for the Adelanto City Council.
All told, it is estimated that Ramos collected and then spent somewhere in the neighborhood of $57,000 on both of those electoral efforts. An exact figure cannot be had because he has not filed the State Form 460 documents used to itemized donations to, expenditures from, loans to and from and nonmonetary contribution or in-kind payments relating to, his electioneering efforts. The FPPC is now proposing that Ramos and/or his campaign be assessed a $57,500 fine as a result.
At its May 16, 2024 meeting, the California Political Fair Practices Commission issued a pre-notice default against Ramos, his Ramos for City Council 2018 committee, the Committee to Elect Daniel Ramos Adelanto City Council 2020, Ricardo Ramos and Arley Arsineda.
The commission, after considering input from Alex Rose, the FPPC’s senior counsel, and Ann Flaherty, the commission’s special investigator, it voted to proceed in the action against Ramos, his committees, Ricardo Ramos, and Arsineda.
According to Rose and Flaherty, “Ramos for City Council 2018 and Committee to Elect Daniel Ramos Adelanto City Council 2020 are Daniel Ramos’ candidate-controlled committees. Arsineda served as the Adelanto Committee’s treasurer. The committees, Daniel Ramos, and Arsineda failed to timely file a statement of organization, sixteen semi-annual campaign statements, and four pre-election campaign statements, in violation of Government Code Sections 84103, 84200, 84200.5. (13 counts). Additionally, the Adelanto Committee, Daniel Ramos, and Arsineda failed to establish, maintain, and utilize a campaign bank account, in violation of Government Code Section 85201 (1 count). Total Proposed Penalty: $57,500.”
It was not clear what role Ricardo Ramos played in the case, although unverified information has it he was involved in the 2018 effort to get Ramos elected in Victorville.
The seriousness of the violation and Ramos’s refusal, after more than five-and-a-half years, to provide an accounting of where he received his campaign funding and how he spent it is indicated by the amount of the proposed fine.
The largest fine ever imposed by the California Fair Political Practices Commission was one of $350,000 on State Senator Carole Migden. Migden, who held a state office, engaged in numerous violations of not only campaign accounting regulations but misused and misappropriated political funds, converted campaign funds to personal profit, used campaign money for personal expenses, failed to itemize political expenses, received contributions before officially declaring her candidacy, made inaccurate disclosures of cash payments and improperly reported campaign finances.
In researching the 3,349 outstanding fines levied by the FPPC which that agency is yet seeking to collect, the Sentinel could not find any fine levied on a local politician exceeding $5,000. The $57,500 fine proposed against Ramos is more than any single fine the Fair Political Practices Commission is yet seeking to collect, the vast majority of which fall under $1,000. With very few exceptions, the larger fines imposed by the FPPC are on political action committees, recipient committees, independent expenditure committees, lobbyists and major donors. Many of the largest outstanding fines go back several years.
The largest fine outstanding is one for $46,720 imposed on a recipient committee which the FPPC has been trying to collect since 2016. There was another fine for $29,290 which has been outstanding since 2016. A major donor was fined $21,020 in 2014 and has not yet paid that assessment. A fine of $20,520 was imposed on a recipient committee, which has ducked payment since 2016. A major donor was fined $19,670 in 2015 and is still in arrears to the FPPC. An outstanding fine of $13,730 is yet owed by another recipient committee. An $11,500 fine levied on a recipient committee has remained unrequited since 2017.  A candidate owes the FPPC $10,650. A $10,000 fine has yet to be paid by a major donor/independent expenditure committee. Another candidate has yet to pay a $9,750 assessment imposed in 2021. Recipient committees are behind in satisfying a $9,650 fine imposed in 2018, another fine for $9,090 and a third for $9,050, which has been owed since 2015.
This week, the Sentinel emailed Ramos asking him to provide a statement with regard to the California Fair Political Practices Commission’s recent indication of its proposed action regarding his 2018 and 2020 campaign fund activities and accounting deficiencies. The Sentinel sought from Ramos whether he considered the mistakes to have been inadvertent and what steps he has instituted to prevent a recurrence. The Sentinel asked if he considered the areas highlighted by the FPPC with regard to his campaign funds to be minor violations and/or mere technical violations. The Sentinel asked if there was a deliberate element in his campaign reporting shortcomings, clarifying the question by asking if he had concern about the public perception or the potential for public misperception if some of the donors to his campaign were disclosed and whether there were any donors he could now identify about whom or which he in particular had such concerns.
The Sentinel sought from Ramos an assurance that his failure to disclose the identities of those who had backed him politically and who are yet backing him does not represent a compromising of the quality of governmental leadership Adelanto’s residents should be able to rely upon at City Hall. For good measure, the Sentinel asked Ramos if there is anything more about this circumstance that he considered worthy of the Sentinel’s readership’s attention or consideration.
Ramos did not respond to the email.
-Mark Gutglueck

By Mark Gutglueck
Over the objections of the father of one alleged victim, Judge Jon Ferguson late Thursday morning, May 30, accepted a plea settlement in the criminal case against 18-year-old Sebastian Bailey Villaseñor worked out by Deputy District Attorney Deborah Ploghaus and defense attorney Daniel DeLimon in which the five attempted murder charges filed against the youth were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea on a single count of intimidating a witness.
Villaseñor, of Eastvale, was a senior at Ontario Christian High School when he was arrested on February 10 on suspicion of having violated PC 422(A) – engaging in threats of violence.
The case materialized after Villaseñor’s sister, Isabella, 15, who also attended Ontario Christian High School, on Thursday, February 8, spoke with one of the school’s counselors, Mitch Stutz, about an exchange she had that morning with her brother in the school parking lot. When she spoke about another student who attended the school, Isabella said, Sebastian expressed irritation, characterizing the coed as being haughty and dismissive of his advances, clenching his fist as he did so, and then told his sister not to talk about the other girl. Continue reading →