FRESNO, Calif. — A high-ranking water district official has been caught red-handed in a brazen water theft scheme that spanned decades, with a staggering $1.5 million to $3.5 million in stolen water at its core.
Dennis Falaschi, 78, of Aptos, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to take federally owned water and one count of filing a false tax return, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.
Falaschi, the former general manager of the Public Water District (PWD) in Fresno and Merced Counties, orchestrated the massive water theft operation from 1992 to 2015. During this period, PWD sold water to farmers with over 38,000 acres of farmland, using a combination of federally owned water and drainage water collected from farms.
But Falaschi’s scheme took a sinister turn when he discovered a leak in the Delta-Mendota Canal (DMC), a federally owned canal operated by the United States Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation. He exploited this leak to siphon off millions of gallons of fresh water into a parallel canal, which was owned by the then-president of PWD’s board of directors.
As part of his plea deal, Falaschi admitted to modifying the standpipe to allow for on-demand water theft. He also acknowledged that nearly all of the stolen water was used to blend down and reuse drainage water, which was high in salt content and toxins.
Falaschi’s greed didn’t stop there. He also entered into private water sales, receiving payments for water that was not federally owned. However, he failed to report this income on his tax return, sparking a separate tax evasion charge.
The case is the result of a joint investigation by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Inspector General, the IRS Criminal Investigation, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Falaschi faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy to commit water theft, as well as three years in prison and a $100,000 fine for the tax charge.
Falaschi is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 16, 2024, before U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Thurston. Only time will tell if his sentence will match the severity of his crimes.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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