Notable Cases

Brenda and Dennis Willingham operated both Sunshine Fresh Produce, a strawberry brokering business, and Willingham Farms, a strawberry farming business, in the city of Oxnard.

Diaz, who had three prior convictions for robbery, molested a 13-year-old girl over a one and a half year period. In 1996, this case became the first "Three Strikes" filed in Ventura County.

Dubbed the "Ojai Rapist," Kevin Malone entered the homes of various women in Ojai between December 1993 and September 1994. The defendant would enter a victim's home, tie the victim up, and then proceed to rape and orally copulate them.

On January 26, 1992, Genoveva Gonzalez was kidnapped by the defendant and two other individuals. Following the kidnapping, she was savagely raped and then shot three times in the face at point blank range. Her body was left in an Oxnard drainage ditch.

Frank Cockrell and Wayne Fleischer orchestrated a securities fraud scam based on Cockrell's claimed net worth of $225 million which was predicated on worthless oil and gas royalties.

On February 8, 2019, a malfunction of fruit washing equipment at the Association's facility triggered the release of commercial grade sodium hypochlorite into the air. Sodium hypochlorite is the active ingredient in household bleach and is used to sterilize fruit prior to packing. Two local schools, Blanchard Elementary School and Briggs School, were required to shelter in place due to the incident.

On June 2, 2018, the Ventura Harbor District (VHD) was notified that Albatro was listing in its slip. Upon arriving on scene, VHD observed red dye diesel in the water surrounding the sinking boat. The United States Coast Guard and the VHD immediately performed containment and cleanup efforts to control and collect the fuel spill. During the cleanup, 24 drums of hazardous waste and contaminated debris were recovered from the harbor and transported to a licensed disposal facility.

On February 19, 2019, a Sun Air employee was filling a 3,000 gallon mobile refueler truck containing jet A-1 fuel. A refueler overfill protection device malfunctioned, resulting in a significant amount of jet fuel being released into the environment.

On February 9, 2021, routine maintenance activities on the commercial fishing boat "El Dorado," captained by Aliotti, caused a substantial amount of paint debris to float into the harbor and coat nearby aquatic life. Aliotti fully cooperated with the investigation and instituted remedial measures shortly thereafter to ensure a similar incident does not occur in the future.

On April 29, 2020, DFW was notified that maintenance was occurring at the Ventura Harbor on the vessel "Islander", operated by Island Packers. The maintenance involved sanding the deck of the boat without any containment measures in place. This resulted in substantial paint related debris floating into the harbor. Immediately after the incident, Island Packers fully cooperated with the investigation and instituted remedial measures to ensure a similar incident does not occur again in the future. This settlement is the result of a joint investigation conducted by the DFW and the District Attorney’s Office Consumer and Environmental Protection Unit.