[env-trinity] Former Westside Water District Boss Indicted in $25 Million Water Theft

[Tom Stokely]

I met Dennis Falaschi when I toured the Grasslands Bypass Project several
years ago.Panoche was at that time in charge of the GBP to attempt to deal
with saline, seleniferous groundwater discharges. He gave me a bag of
pistachios grown in salty drainage water.

TS
https://gvwire.com/2022/04/14/former-westside-water-district-boss-indicted-in-25-million-water-theft/

Former Westside Water District Boss Indicted in $25 Million Water Theft

Published
2 days ago

on
April 14, 2022

By
Bill McEwen, News Director <https://gvwire.com/author/bill-mcewen/>
Dennis Falaschi, former GM of Panoche Water District, is charged with
conspiracy, theft of government property, and filing false tax returns.
(Fresno State)
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A federal grand jury returned a five-count indictment Thursday against
Dennis Falaschi, a former general manager of Panoche Water District,
charging him with conspiracy, theft of government property, and filing
false tax returns, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced in a news
release.

Falaschi, 75 years old and now residing in Aptos, exploited a leak in the
Delta-Mendota Canal and engineered a way to steal more than $25 million
worth of water from the federal Central Valley Project, according to court
documents.

The Panoche Water District is headquartered in Firebaugh and serves farmers
in Fresno and Merced counties, who grow a variety of crops on 38,000 acres.

The scheme allegedly began in 1992 when Falaschi learned that an abandoned
drain turnout near milepost markers 94.57 and 94.58 on the Delta-Mendota
Canal was leaking water into a parallel canal under the Panoche Water
District’s control.

Falaschi told an employee to install a new gate inside a standpipe at the
spot of the leak so that the site could be opened and closed on demand,
according to court documents. In addition, the employee was told to install
a lid and lock to conceal and secure the apparatus. The original gate in
the standpoint had been cemented shut years earlier.
Water Thefts Discovered in 2015

Falaschi subsequently told employees to use the site to steal federal water
from the Delta-Mendota Canal on multiple occasions before the site was
discovered in April 2015. He used the theft proceeds to pay himself and
others exorbitant salaries, fringe benefits, and personal expense
reimbursements, prosecutors contend.

Additionally, Falaschi was charged Thursday with filing false tax returns
in 2015 through 2017. According to court records, he failed to report more
than $900,000 in income to the Internal Revenue Service that he received
from private water sales.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the case, which was
investigated by the Interior’s Office of Inspector General, IRS-Criminal
Investigation, and the FBI.
Panoche Agreed to Repay $7.5 Million to Bureau of Reclamation

In 2021, Panoche agreed to pay the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation nearly $7.5
million to compensate for the “unauthorized diversion of water” from two
federal canals, The Sacramento Bee reported
<https://www.sacbee.com/article253369598.html#_=_>.

The district also agreed to pay $798,000 plus $172,000 in interest to the
San Luis & Delta-Mendota Water Authority, which delivers water from the
Bureau of Reclamation to Panoche and 28 other member districts.
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