83-Year-Old Fined Under Medfly Law

Becoming the first person penalized under a new state law, an elderly Whittier man was fined $500 Wednesday for removing produce from a Mediterranean fruit fly quarantine area and selling it at a Fullerton market.

The citation against Forest E. Dull, 83, came after an Orange County agricultural inspector discovered him selling cherry tomatoes Jan. 17 at the Fullerton Certified Farmers’ Market, said Frank Parsons, chief deputy agricultural commissioner for Orange County.

Dull had been cited a few weeks earlier by Los Angeles County agricultural inspectors for removing persimmons from his backyard. But he was not fined in that case.

Contacted at his home late Wednesday, Dull said he had not been notified of the fine. He added that he did not intentionally break the law.

“I just forgot that (the tomatoes) were on the quarantine list,” Dull said. “You get so caught up in taking things to the market that you just don’t think about it.”

Dull said the Whittier property where he grows citrus and vegetables was put under a Medfly quarantine last fall. Dull said he sells the produce from his one-acre backyard to supplement his Social Security income. Under the quarantine, citrus products and vegetables identified as likely Medfly hosts cannot be removed.

Dull was fined under a state law that went into effect Jan. 1. Its purpose, Parsons said, is to deter people from removing produce that could contain Medfly eggs and larvae.

Dull, a regular vendor at the market, was back at work on Wednesday but had only macademia nuts and nursery plants to sell.