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US ex-official pleads guilty in heist to steal and sell water with secret pipe (www.theguardian.com)
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world
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Dennis Falaschi charged in multi-million dollar scheme as records show he wasn’t only one to take water from California’s farm region

A former California water official has pleaded guilty to conspiring to steal water in a deal with federal prosecutors in the state’s crop-rich central valley.

The Los Angeles Times reports Tuesday that 78-year-old Dennis Falaschi, who used to head the Panoche water district, entered the plea in federal court in Fresno. He also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

Falaschi was accused in a case that alleged that more than $25m in water was stolen over two decades when it was siphoned from a federal irrigation canal through a secret pipe and sold to farmers and other water districts. The Panoche water district supplies irrigation for farmland in Fresno and Merced counties – much of it from the federal Delta-Mendota canal.

Authorities said in court documents that Falaschi wasn’t the only one taking water, but did not specify who else was involved. They estimated Falaschi stole less than $3.5m in water, a small portion of what they initially alleged had been stolen.

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[-] riskable@programming.dev 44 points 7 months ago

Welcome to the future! I believe this is how the next world war starts?

[-] prettybunnys@sh.itjust.works 13 points 7 months ago

Death in the Water/Climate wars is how I believe I will retire

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago

Adam was dust until God injected him with life. And do you know what was in that injection? Water. Water is life. Water is power.

-- Kesslee, Tank Girl

[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

That’ll happen if Trump wins in November and pulls support from Ukraine and NATO allies in the name of isolationism.

Water theft during drought is some dystopian post-apocalyptic shit.

[-] jaspersgroove@lemm.ee 3 points 7 months ago

The future? This is basically the plot to Chinatown lol, this shits been going on forever

this post was submitted on 29 May 2024
219 points (99.1% liked)

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