SAN YSIDRO : Illegal Parking Lot Draws $25,000 Fine
Joseph G. Enterprises, a San Ysidro firm that pleaded guilty to filling in 7 acres of wetlands to create swap meet parking, was fined $25,000 Friday by a federal magistrate, closing California’s first criminal wetlands prosecution, prosecutors said.
U.S. Magistrate Leo Papas sentenced the firm to the maximum penalty.
It had pleaded guilty March 20 to one count of illegally filling a wetland to create parking for the San Ysidro International Swap Meet, said the prosecutor in the case, Assistant U.S. Atty. Melanie K. Pierson.
Joseph G. Enterprises also has agreed to restore the 7 acres to its wild nature, Pierson said.
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