A man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl then keeping her locked inside a small metal box has been sent to prison. Patrick Pearmain, one of the two marijuana growers from Lake County accused in the case, got 12-and-a-half years in federal prison with another 10 years of federal probation after he’s released. Pearmain admitted he was dealing marijuana and to using a minor to violate drug laws. He and his co-defendant, Ryan Balletto, were facing life sentences after their 2013 arrest on a marijuana farm where police in Los Angeles said they thought the girl was being held. Cops found the girl, assault weapons, sniper rifles, almost 1,500 marijuana plants and thousands of dollars in cash. The girl found in a hotel which she somehow got to and called police. She says she was held in a metal box for three days two times. She was hired to trim marijuana then was sexually assaulted by the men. The other man has not been sentenced yet.
Measles making a comeback to Butte County. Butte County Public Health officials had said they were hopeful the virus was eradicated, calling it quote, “interrupted” last Thursday, but now there’s one more case. A reminder now from the health dept. it’s one of the most infectious illnesses in the world and those not vaccinated are being urged to get immunized. The latest case, the 11th, an adult in Butte County. It’s linked to several cases in March. The health dept. had reported they were hopeful of a June deadline to end the virus in the County, something they now say, could still happen if there are no more cases for two more incubation periods of 7-21 days. That would be the last week of June.
A man wanted in Calif for almost 30 years for tax crimes still doesn’t have to pay even though the highest court in the land sides with the state. Gilbert Hyatt was supposed to be paying state income taxes on royalties he got back in the early 1990s for technological inventions but he moved to Nevada, where there’s no state income tax. Calif’s Franchise Tax Board, declared it illegal, billing him millions. He said in the past the Franchise Tax Board was using tactics to extort money from him he didn’t owe. A judge previously sided with him saying it was not fraud. Then his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court which sided with Calif. but he wasn’t ordered to pay anything after he sued the state, which has reportedly spent as much as $25 million to pursue the inventor.
Recent rains giving Strawberry growers a soggy season. The president of Scurich Berry Farms Inc. and a Driscoll’s strawberry and blackberry grower says they’re cleaning up damage from the wacky weather last weekend. Berry growers lost several days of production because of the weather over the last week. The farm claiming they’re losing after the heavy rain which can damage berries which have thin skin. He says it could take two weeks to recover and a loss of 500-700 trays per acre of berries over the next week and a half. July is usually their peak season with the maturation stage of about four to five weeks. The Strawberry California Commission reports since strawberries are grown outdoors, growers are used to weather-related damage. The berries bloom all season long, they call the weather a temporary condition.
