I see EPD, I take a photo. It was a traffic stop which may not make headlines but EPD is out there constantly keeping this community safe. The one consistent positive about living in Eureka is EPD. I have seen them in the field daily for 22 years, I see their work in successful prosecution of court cases and personally, they do their best to keep me safe from the constant harassment and attacks. From dispatch to staff, I am very grateful for EPD.
This is part 2 from the post I did yesterday on the second amended complaint filed yesterday in Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against County of Humboldt, HCSO deputy and CALFire employee Travis Mendes, former Deputy DA and current Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada and Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal Does 1-10.
I published emails referenced in this filing in April 2026.
From pages 1 - 4 of the SAC:
"4. Defendants’ own files confirm that they were aware of all of these facts. In early August 2018, days before Ray’s preliminary hearing, Deputy Mendes himself gave Ray a goat from the Sheriff’s Office work farm that he admitted was “too sick.”1 In fact, that goat died that same day, even though a veterinarian had examined it weeks earlier, when it was in Deputy Mendes’ custody, and found it healthy. In contemporaneous emails, the prosecutors acknowledged that the episode “reinforces the defendant’s story line—Christie buys (takes in) the sick animals from others and does what he can to help them, and that it hurts us in terms ofcredibility for Dep. Mendes.”
2 They resolved to dismiss felony counts against Christie in order to “remove Dep. Mendes as a witness” and to proceed only on charges they could prove “without Mendes.”
3 Knowing all of this, Defendants prosecuted Ray for five more years. Defendants targeted Ray for prosecution despite their knowledge of his innocence.
For example, Deputy Mendes knew Ray was innocent because Deputy Mendes was himself part of the very trade in sick and injured animals he used to brand Ray an abuser. Week after week at the Humboldt Auction Yard, witnesses saw Deputy Mendes work the pens like a ranch hand, encouraging and helping to move weak, sick, lame, and non-ambulatory animals through the sale, knowing full well that Ray would be there to buy them. Deputy Mendes even brought skinny, failing animals to the Humboldt Auction Yard for sale. This includes the goat cited above, as well as pigs so emaciated that several died in the auction pens on the day of sale. Deputy Mendes, not to be dissuaded, told the auction staff the pigs should be sold anyways while Ray sat waiting as a buyer. Deputy Mendes thus knew, better than anyone, that the sick and subpar condition of the animals in Ray’s herds was the product of other ranchers’ and farmers’ operations in Humboldt County, not evidence that Ray abused anything. The goat and pig incidents were not unique; they were how Deputy Mendes operated. And Defendants knew it. At Ray’s August 2018 preliminary hearing, the District Attorney’s Office stood up in open court and dismissed several felony animalcruelty counts, conceding on the record that it could no longer rely on Deputy Mendes as a witness because this was the same deputy “who then would allow a sick goat to go into the hands of thedefendant.”
4 Sheriff Honsal knew it too. For years, ranchers had sent him photographs and video and implored him personally to address the sick, skinny, lame, and weak cattle being run through the auction by other Humboldt County ranchers and farmers, the very animals everyone knew Ray bought. Sheriff Honsal brushed them aside, telling one complainant, who Sheriff Honsal knew was a friend of Ray’s, “Good luck my friend.”
6. The gulf between how Defendants treated Ray and how they treated the other ranchers and farmers actually bringing sick, skinny, lame, and weak animals to auction shows that they never believed Ray was an animal abuser. For years, Defendants looked past documented, and in some instances admitted, animal abuse by established ranchers and dairies, most notably Alexandre Family Farm, whose mistreatment of cattle the USDA later confirmed. Defendants also looked past the sick, injured, and non-ambulatory cattle run through the Humboldt Auction Yard every week in plain view of the Livestock Deputies. Those operators were never investigated, arrested, or charged, despite Defendants’ full knowledge that those operators were the source of the sick, injured, and non-ambulatory animals. Had Defendants genuinely believed that these animals’ condition was evidence of a crime, they would have pursued the operators who sold them. They did not. Ray alone was singled out. Defendants intentionally treated Ray differently from every similarly situated operator in Humboldt County, with no rational basis for doing so, and pursued the prosecution of Ray for the purpose of denying him the equal protection of the laws. Their choice to spare every comparable operator—and in the case of Deputy Mendes, assisting them with the sale of their mistreated cattle at auction—while relentlessly targeting Ray confirms that the investigation and prosecution were undertaken in bad faith, without probable cause, and for a purpose the law forbids.
7. In December 2023, after the state court suppressed the fruits of a second unlawful raid and permitted Ray to expose Deputy Mendes’ evidence-handling and false testimony, theDistrict Attorney dismissed, without a conviction, every felony charge. The remaining misdemeanor convictions were later set aside and that action dismissed."
Excerpts from the three pages posted above:
Deputy Mendes cited the presence of dead cattle as evidence of animal neglect or abuse. But he omitted the material information that this was an unfortunate norm in the HumboldtCounty cattle industry.
The best way to dispose of cattle carcasses is to send them to a rendering plant, where the animals can be safely processed into hides, tallow, grease, and meal by-products. But, there are no such rendering plants in Humboldt County. None have existed more than 20 years.
And there are no other rendering plants nearby. The closest ones are in Sacramento and Petaluma, which are both nearly 300 miles away over mountainous roads, or in Portland, over 400 miles away. It is cost prohibitive and realistically impossible to transport cattle carcasses over that distance on a regular basis before the carcasses deteriorate to the point they cannot be used. As a result, cattle ranchers like Ray have no choice but to make “dead piles” on their properties or bury the carcasses as best they can. In addition, the particularly long and muddy winters of Humboldt County make it so that it is difficult to bury, or even move, the animal carcasses weighing thousands of pounds out of the mud. Thus, in the winter—including the months leading up the March 2018 raid—ranchers may have to leave dead cattle where they are until spring.
73. The community knew this. And Deputy Mendes and Sheriff Honsal knew this.
Deputy Mendes stated that “to my knowledge, the county does not have any means of removal or storage for that many carcasses. Addinionally [sic], i know that Humboldt county does not have a carcasse [sic] disposal factory anymore.”41 But Deputy Mendes intentionally or recklesslyomitted from his affidavits this material information about the lack of rendering plants and thepervasiveness of cattle carcasses on ranches in Humboldt."
There is so much in this over 70 page filing but as I said, I am not posting the entire document. People can go pay to view or donload the document.
It is only going to piss off and make me a bigger target from those at 825 Fifth street who already have an issue with any independent, real reporting that is not PR. It will infuriate the extra help HCSO deputies who are Travis Mendes' buds. They know who they are.
In Dameon Bradfield's conspiracy to commit crime 2026 codefendant case, today's pre trial was continued to 10/23 for confirmation of counsel because Gregory Kreis has a conflict. CAO's office has to look for another private court appointed attorney. In a small county conflicts occur with attorneys; with Kreis being a former judge; the chances are higher.
Arson suspect Stephen Paiment was arraigned on information today. There is a hearing scheduled for a petition on mental health diversion but no filing in e court. The court will not have a hearing if documents are not filed timely. If this hearing proceeds tomorrow, it is selective rules. If it is continued; more waste of time and court resources on taxpayer dime.
This is the kind of nonsense, often last minute by the Public Defender's Office or Conflict Counsel that results in me checking 40 or 50 Humboldt cases. Paiment was restored to competency on 8/13/26. He isn't the first defendant who is a clear danger to the community who the public defenders will still pursue mental health diversion for and if you read my reporting, it has been a failure. Same with CARE court, while those cases are confidential and press releases have been issued about their "success", if data was available to the public; the real story would be revealed. Readiness Conference is on 12/1; jury trial on 12/14.
For all previous coverage, for free, you can use the search feature on this site or Google.
I had done this post on October 15. Yesterday, Eureka Police Department arrested Quinshad Kashante Winters for PC 1551 (a) fugitive from justice who as I reported has warrants from Mississippi.
U.S. District Judge Noel Wise who has been assigned to Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against the County of Humboldt will be sentencing former Salinas Valley State Prison Lt. Matthew Madsen who pleaded guilty to federal charges of taking bribes and smuggling contraband into prison.
The U.S. Attorney's Office of Northern California issued a press release today with details.
Second amended complaint filed today in Ray Christie's federal lawsuit against County of Humboldt, HCSO deputy and CALFire employee Travis Mendes, former Deputy DA and current Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada and Humboldt County Sheriff William Honsal Does 1-10.
I have the complaint which is over 70 pages. There is so much information that I may do part 2 or part 3.
Defendants game plan of Ray Christie's reckoning is not even one of the top 50 lines in exposing Humboldt County and the halls of Humboldt injustice. Victory in this lawsuit isn't just about Ray Christie. It will benefit countless others. The evil in Humboldt deserves judgement day and I hope this lawsuit is just part of overdue accountability.
Shannon Miranda, Blake Alexander and more new information in this latest filing.
The excerpts I have provided will give deja vu of how HCSO and DA operated in the Miranda's Rescue Investigation and what only I covered in the Georgi Tonev court hearings and case. I have often spoken about selective targeting and enforcement in Humboldt County. If Humboldt wants to destroy and target you; they will sink to new lows and there are enough sycophants and bootlickers willing to screw someone over for the crumbs thrown their way and a false sense of power which only the weak and abusive seek.
Ray Christie's attorneys have tried to address the concerns raised and information Judge Noel Wise wanted. Between the original complaint and this SAC, just in initial disclosures, Humboldt County Counsel has turned over more internal communications. I exclusively covered some of those communications in previous coverage. I was the only one who reported on what no one else did in the 2018 criminal case which was dismissed. If you read all my coverage, you know much of what is in this new filing. Imagine what will come out in formal interrogatories and depositions. The County of Humboldt will file a motion to dismiss the SAC.
I have exclusive remarks from Ray Christie's attorney who I spoke with this evening, "We are grateful for the chance to tell Ray's story in this Second Amended Complaint," said Mr. Rick Richmond. This version of the complaint now reflects the beginning of information revealed about internal discovery between the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office and the Humboldt County DA's office in pursuing criminal charges against Ray Christie."
From the introduction of the SAC.
"This is a civil rights action about a man criminally charged and prosecuted on the basis of evidence a sheriff’s deputy deliberately fabricated. For four generations, the Christie family has raised cattle in Humboldt County. Raymond Frank Christie (“Ray”) built his business on a simple and lawful model: he bought the sick, injured, and unwanted animals that other ranchers culled from their herds, and he nursed them back to health. For more than fifteen years, the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office investigated the periodic complaints that Ray’s herds looked thin, or that carcasses were visible on his low-lying land, and every livestock deputy who looked reached the same conclusion: Ray was no animal abuser.
2. That changed when Travis Mendes became the Humboldt County Livestock Deputy in late 2017. Deputy Mendes targeted Ray from his first days on the job. Deputy Mendes personally disliked Ray and, despite knowing that Ray was innocent, set out to bring Ray down.
When his raiding party descended on Ray’s ranch in March 2018, Deputy Mendes pushed aside the officer who had begun to handcuff Ray, declared “this one is all mine,” and snapped on a pair of handcuffs engraved with Mendes’ own name."
Page 59 and 60:
190. "Sheriff Honsal’s public statements in the Miranda investigation set out the standards Defendants apply to a legitimate animal-cruelty investigation: tracing each animal’s origin, determining cause of death by necropsy, preserving the “best evidence,” and refusing to“proceed when we don’t have the evidence to support any of the charges.” Sheriff Honsal knew these standards, articulated them publicly, and enforced them for others. Defendants disregarded every one of these standards when they investigated and prosecuted Ray.
191. Defendants’ selective, result-driven enforcement was the moving force behind theviolation of Ray’s constitutional rights. By singling Ray out for investigation, arrest, and prosecution while sparing every similarly situated operator, and by doing so with no rational basis prosecution and for the purpose of imposing on Ray a burden they imposed on no one else, Defendants denied Ray the equal protection of the laws. Ray was a class of one.
56 He does not contend that Defendants acted against him because of his race, religion, or any other protected characteristic. He contends that Defendants intentionally singled him out as an individual, treating him worse than every comparable cattle rancher, dairy, and livestock operator in Humboldt County.
Defendants investigated, arrested, and prosecuted Ray on evidence they would not have acted on—and did not act on despite having such evidence—against anyone else, and declined to apply to him the investigative standards (tracing each animal, necropsies, preservation of “best evidence,” and charging only on sufficient proof) that they applied to others. There was no rational basis for that difference in treatment. Further, as alleged above, Defendants even went so far as to deliberately fabricate evidence in their single-minded pursuit of Ray.
Page 72 and 73:
In addition, Sheriff Honsal, who had final policymaking authority concerning Deputy Mendes’ unlawful prosecution of Ray, knew of and made the deliberate choice to approve the specific unconstitutional acts alleged in this First Second Amended Complaint. For example, after the preliminary hearing, Sheriff Honsal emailed Deputy Mendes, “Christie’s day of reckoning is near! Great JOB!”57
Adrian Kamada:
159. The improper preservation of evidence in Deputy DA Kamada’s cases resulted in lost evidence in Ray’s case. Before Ray’s trial, Judge Kaleb V. Cockrum publicly ordered Deputy DA Kamada to properly preserve evidence in Ray’s case, stating, “I am going to order, Mr.Kamada, that evidence you are now in possession of is not destroyed or mayhemed in any way and that you be a good custodian – your office be a good custodian of that office.” In response, Deputy DA Kamada tried to push responsibility for the evidence onto the Sheriff’s Office and even onto the Court itself, stating “to be clear, my office doesn’t possess any of those things. The sheriff’s office has them and they’re actually under the possession of the Court.” Judge Cockrum reminded Deputy DA Kamada that “it is your case. . . . I’m looking at you, Mr. Kamada.” In the aftermath of Deputy DA Kamada’s mishandling of Ray’s case, the District Attorney’s Office revealed that critical evidence was no longer available because it “appear[ed] to have been lost.
Two recent posts you should read. All coverage on any case can be accessed via the search feature on the blog. There are paid options for those who want convenience.
EPD arrested Carl Keeler today. I have been covering him since 2020, just did a post in July 2026. Drugs and repeat offender.
"On October 20, 2026, at approximately 10:45 a.m., an off-duty Eureka Police Department (EPD) officer observed a male identified as Carl Keeler, 35, of Eureka, behind a business at the 500 block of C Street. The officer had recently investigated a theft case and identified Keeler as the suspect.
EPD officers responded to the location and confirmed the subject’s identity. Keeler was detained and was search in accordance to his probation terms. During the search, officers located Keeler in possession of burglary tools, a loaded firearm, a replica firearm, and 1.37 grams of fentanyl.
Keeler was taken into custody for possession of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance with qualifying prior convictions, possession of a controlled substance while armed with a loaded firearm, possession of burglary tools, prohibited possession of a firearm and ammunition, violationof probation, and carrying a concealed firearm."
For those waiting on an update on vehicular manslaughter suspect Ocean DelCastillo's bail hearing, I was just in the courtroom which is packed with family, friends, some wearing shirts "Justice for Anisha." Humboldt Superior Court Judge Heather Durans met in chambers with Senior Deputy DA Roger Rees, Deputy Public Defender David Celli and Mr. William Stein who is here with the family. Mr. Rees intends to provide evidence and testimony why DelCastillo should remain in custody.
DelCastillo's assigned attorney, Deputy Public Defender Emery Welton is not in the office. Mr. Celli is checking on his availability and the bail hearing will be continued. Set to coincide with the preliminary hearing on 10/28.
Sources in the know told me that Jennifer Raymond is going around asking people if they will talk to the FBI. Anyone with a brain is not going to be involved with this clown show regardless of how they feel about the situation. In fact, Jennifer Raymond had some people politely decline. Other sources said that according to Shannon Miranda himself, the photo of him departing for Vegas recently was allegedly taken by an airport employee and airport management is "not happy" and allegedly confirmed this to Shannon Miranda. I say allegedly because I did not hear it firsthand and over the course of covering this Humboldt debacle where justice for the animals is yet to be done, I take anything that is said by Shannon Miranda, Jennifer Raymond and the other narcissists with a grain of salt. When they testify under oath in a court of law, sign a court declaration and are willing to be cross examined; we will see what they say.
Today, instead of a dismissal, attorneys tolf Retired Humboldt Superior Court Judge Marilyn Miles, the case had settled at mediation; what still remains in dispute is attorney fees which they are trying to resolve. Another case management conference on 1/25/27.
Rocket Dog Rescue filed a second amended complaint on October 8. It was not in e court until today. This one is against Shannon Miranda as an individual and Does 1-100 . That seems to be the only change.
You can compare the social media to the booking photo since media is not allowed to publish booking photos pre conviction due to the Ninth Circuit ruling. She posted bond.
51 year old Shauna Ray Kowtko was arrested yesterday by HCSO for PC 31 aiding and abetting a crime, PC245(a)(4) assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury (GBI) and PC422 (a) criminal threats.
