Two men charged with illegal gold mining in the Sierra along with felony vandalism of public land and private property entered no contest pleas, prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Gregory Arnoldi Jr. and his father Gregory Arnoldi Sr. were also charged with felony conspiracy along with misdemeanor charges of water pollution, altering a stream without notifying state authorities, mining without a permit or reclamation plan, and grading without a permit. The Sierra County District Attorney's Office said both men pleaded no contest on Oct. 8 to the felony vandalism and misdemeanor water pollution and stream alteration charges.
In a post on the Sierra County Sheriff's Office Facebook page, the DA's office said the defendants used heavy equipment to modify a historic carriage route to carry their truck and mining equipment, and their work resulted in rock and soil passing into Keystone Creek which flows into the North Fork of the Yuba River near Loganville.
District Attorney Sandra Groven said the men were originally charged on in May after an investigation that sprung from a tip by a concerned citizen.
A man uses heavy equipment to illegally grade a route for mining equipment, according to the Sierra County Sheriff's Office. Sierra County Sheriff's OfficeBoth defendants were sentenced to 30 days in county jail along with a $8,135 fine each, and ordered to implement and pay for a restoration plan for the damaged public and private properties, the DA's Office said. They were also placed on felony probation for three years and banned from performing any mining work during that time.
"This was a serious illegal mining case submitted to our office by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife," District Attorney Sandra Groven said in a prepared statement. "While Sierra County is proud of its mining history and heritage that continues to this day, we take the laws that govern mining seriously. In this case, the defendants' illegal mining scheme vandalized private and public property and caused significant damage to those properties and to the natural resources that make Sierra County a desirable place to live and visit, including damage to mining artifacts. This is not 1849."
In addition, the DA's Office said the defendants were given an Aug. 1, 2027 deadline to complete the restoration work, or face an additional eight months in jail and over $30,000 in additional fines.
Groven told CBS News Sacramento that prosecuting illegal mining operations can be a challenge in the county.
"We are a small county with a lot of public lands which are remote so enforcement can be difficult," Groven said in an email. "We prosecute the cases which are reported and substantiated by sufficient evidence. In this case, damage done to the environment was extensive."
Groven said the sentence would be served sometime in early 2027 and a remand date would be scheduled in January.
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