Prosecutors defend sting that nabbed members of Facebook food-sharing forum
Prosecutors in San Joaquin County, California, are defending their decision to charge six members of a Facebook food-sharing forum for their online food sales.
In a news conference on Wednesday, supervising deputy district attorney Robert Himelblau said the online food sales by unlicensed vendors created a risk of foodborne illness, and it would have been negligent for his office to ignore it, the Washington Post reports.
“We are not trying to prevent people from cooking or sharing or doing potlucks,” Himelblau said. “We’re not saying that this is wrong, or you’re a wrong, bad person. We’re saying please stop this, you’re going to hurt somebody.”
Six people selling food through the forum were charged with the misdemeanors of operating a food facility and engaging in business without a permit. The DA’s office says it launched the sting after the six people ignored mailed letters telling them to stop the food sales.
Five pleaded guilty, but a sixth, single mom Mariza Ruelas, refused a plea deal and called the probe a “waste of time and resources and taxpayers’ money.”
Ruelas was accused of selling ceviche, a raw seafood dish. She said she was offered a plea deal with stiffer penalties than the others. The deal called for three years’ probation, 80 hours of community service and a $253 fine, she said.
San Joaquin County Chief Deputy District Attorney Sherri Adams says Ruelas was offered a less lenient deal because she continued to sell her food online after she was charged, the Los Angeles Times reports. Ruelas is “making more of this than it is,” Adams told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s not the big, bad DA’s office trying to take this woman down.”
If Ruelas is convicted, Adams told the Los Angeles Times, she would probably be sentenced to “no more than 10 days in county jail.”
