UPDATE June 27, 2025 – Please see below. Thank you.

The Principle of the Day is “Fraud Vitiates All”

June 26, 2025 (Originally Published)

Indian Wells Valley California

By Miguel T. Tonnis

Publisher’s Statement: Folks, this could very well “blow up” the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, metaphorically speaking, of course. There’s nothing about the Indian Wells Valley’s GSP or the GA that involves “local control”. It’s quite the opposite. You didn’t know that the Indian Wells Valley is a test bed, and you are all guinea pigs in a much larger, more insidious plan for the future of “sustainable groundwater ” in the states of California and Arizona. There’s much, much more to come. This is the only the beginning as we expose the fraud. Please send any comments or corrections to publisher@roadrunner395.com

The phrase principle of the day is “Fraud vitiates all”. Actually, it’s not just a phrase, it’s a principle and a legal doctrine. Where have we heard the word “doctrine” before? Ah yes, the doctrine of “federal reserve water rights”. The doctrine of federal reserve water rights is what we call a spongy, leaky doctrine. The doctrine of legal fraud isn’t spongy at all. The following case was decided by the Supreme Court of the United States:

QUESTIONS PRESENTED FOR REVIEW in 98 U.S. 61 (1878)

In United States v. Throckmorton, 98 U.S. 61 (1878), this Court held that
“There is no question of the general doctrine that fraud vitiates the most solemn
contracts, documents, and even judgments.”

United States v. Throckmorton, 98 U.S. 61 (1878) – https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/98/61

There. Is. No. Question.

Let’s review: What is a doctrine? Let’s go check Wordnik, our favorite place for the definition of a particular word:

Number two is the most appropriate definition of the legal doctrine for the fraud we’re discussing today. We’re about to show you why the City of Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, and the attorneys for both, are in a heap of trouble. Big trouble. Very. Big. Trouble. To wit:

There’s so much fraud committed under the “Umbrella of SGMA“, it could bring the whole house of cards down.

Not only that, but there’s also a pattern and practice of fraud that will become evident to all of you, and then you be able to party and celebrate, because the IWV Groundwater Authority will have to be shut down, and you’ll be able to sue the State of California and challenge the constitutionality, the Groundwater Sustainability Agency (GSA) fraud, and the consumer fraud, all inherent in the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014.

And you’ll be able to get all your money back, maybe even three times what’s been stolen from you!

YOU ARE DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES GUINEA PIGS!

There’s so much fraud being committed under the “Umbrella of SGMA”, it doesn’t matter whether AB 1413 and AB 1466 are added to the mix or unconstitutional as well. The only thing under the umbrella of SGMA is fraud. SGMA is a fraud.

Fraud. Vitiates. All.

COUNT ONE, CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT FRAUD

The entity that paid the consultants and the “project managers” for implementing the Groundwater Authority’s Groundwater Sustainability Plan are the very same companies and individuals that were responsible for introducing AB 1413 and AB 1466 to the California State Legislature and they were paid by the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority.

Keith Lemieux, is a dual agent representing both the City of Ridgecrest AND the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority. There is an inherent conflict of interest while practicing law as a dual agent. Lemieux can’t “serve two masters”.

Mr. Lemieux has been the City of Ridgecrest’s Attorney for over 10 years AND he was and is the attorney representing the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority. Lemieux was intimately involved in the creation of the GSA from the beginning, over 10 years ago. He is the “kingpin”.

Has there ever been a written Agency Agreement between Lemieux and both the City and the GSA acknowledging the dual agency relationship and was it signed by both the City of Ridgecrest and the IWV Groundwater Authority?

Phillip Hall is the Kern County Attorney that’s been orchestrating EVERYTHING SGMA while representing Kern County California since day one of the creation of the GSA (Groundwater Sustainability Agency). Mr. Hall has been involved in this alleged crime for over 10 years of his 20-year career practicing water law. Hall is an employee of Kern County and represents the county at many if not most of the public meetings. (The May 14th, 2025 Groundwater Authority Meeting Video is below)

Public meetings are held at the City of Ridgecrest council chambers in the middle of the day on Wednesdays. The meetings are live streamed to the City of Ridgecrest’s Youtube channel.

The IWV Groundwater Authority also leases a very small space at city hall and has never had its own Youtube page, despite requests from the public to have their own channel. The public has also complained many times that the meetings are held at an inconvenient time of the day and the members of the public are rarely in attendance during the meetings.

The IWV Groundwater Authority received a $7,000,000 grant from the Department of Water Resources and has collected over $14,000,000 in “replenishment fees” from the customers of the Indian Wells Valley Water District.

Regional Government Services Authority

Regional Government Services Authority (RGS) is a California Joint Powers Authority (JPA). Under California law, a JPA can be formed by two or more governmental agencies, with the agencies becoming governing members of the JPA. The members of RGS are the Cities of Dublin, Larkspur, Napa, Soledad and Walnut Creek, the Town of Yountville and Citrus Heights Water District. Each agency’s chief executive officer has a seat on the Board of Directors for RGS. Officers of the Board of Directors are elected once per year from the Board Membership. The Board of Directors appoints individuals to assist the Board in overseeing the operation of the JPA, including an Executive Committee and a Finance Committee.

Board of Directors

Regional Government Services Authority (RGSA) was hired by the IWV Groundwater Authority (IWVGA) after the formation of the IWV Groundwater Authority (the GSA or “Groundwater Sustainability Agency”). In reviewing the Contracts and Agreements page of the IWVGA, we can’t find the Agreement between the IWVGA and RGSA. Reference: https://iwvga.org/contracts-agreements – Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority Board Members and Staff (IWVGA.ORG)

Pictured above is Attorney Keith Lemieux and General Manager Carol Thomas-Keefer working closely together during a public meeting of the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority.

Publisher’s note: All of the acronyms used by government are meant to confuse you. The General Manager of the GA is Carol-Thomas Keifer, who is an employee of RGSA. The Clerk of the GA is April Keigwin, who is also an employee of RGSA, and her title is Clerk of the Board of Directors. Kern County Attorney Phill Hall and IWVGA clerk April Keigwin were both online via the Indian Wells Valley Water District’s meeting held on June 10th, 2025. They appear to be very concerned about all of this controversy, and they should be.

If you have any questions or concerns related to groundwater sustainability in the Indian Wells Valley area, contact: 

Carol Thomas-Keefer – IWVGA General Manager
cthomaskeefer@rgs.ca.gov

April Keigwin – IWVGA Clerk of the Board of Directors
805-764-5452
akeigwin@rgs.ca.gov

IWV Groundwater Authority Address: 100 W California Ave., Ridgecrest, CA. 93555 (Ridgecrest City Hall)

UPDATE June 27, 2025: The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority is now on Notice for Conspiracy to Commit Fraud

Date: June 27, 2025 6:00 a.m.

Re: Conspiracy to Commit Fraud, Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority

To: Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority

Attn: Carol Thomas-Keifer General Manager, April Keigwin Clerk of the Board of Directors

You are now on notice. Retain all of your records and communications. Additional information may be requested as per the California Public Records Act. Please see below.

Miguel T. Tonnis

Publisher, Roadrunner395.com

We will leave Count One for further investigation by the Kern County District Attorney.

COUNT TWO: A Mere Brown Act Violation or a Conspiracy to Commit Fraud?

The Very Definition of Fraud: On behalf of the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, the City of Ridgecrest represented something that did not happen and prepared and signed a document in support of AB 1413 and AB 1466 that contained intentionally gross errors and omissions, and they presented it or testified to a committee at the State Assembly, and they tried to cover it all up by calling it a “legal strategy” and used assertions of “attorney client privilege” to silence members of the Ridgecrest City Council. KABOOM! All in one sentence.

Most recently, officials of the City of Ridgecrest allegedly committed an “egregious violation of the Brown Act“. Pictured above are left to right, Councilman Scott Hayman, City Manager Ron Strand and Councilman Kyle Blades, May 5th, 2025 at a special meeting of the Kern County Board of Supervisors. The meeting was held to discuss the merits of AB 1413 and AB 1466, and the trio were questioned by Kern County Supervisor David Couch to determine whether they acted with or without formal approval of actions they took on behalf of the City of Ridgecrest and whether those actions were approved by a vote of the city council, either in public session or closed session. It has been determined that the three had no authorization to take any actions, either by a public meeting vote or a closed session vote.

You can read about the gross violation of the public trust by City of Ridgecrest officials here:

As the record will show, and below you’ll find the evidence, City Manager Ron Strand, City Clerk Ricca Charlon and Council Members Kyle Blades and Scott Hayman are alleged to have engaged in an egregious violation of the Brown Act.

And we’ll throw in Eric Bruen – FORMER MAYOR – City of Ridgecrest for an example of corruption and politics WRIT LARGE, VERY LARGE:

We believe that Eric Bruen authored the Statement on the City of Ridgecrest’s Facebook Page yesterday, June 25, 2025. This Statement, whether Mr. Bruen was the author or not, had to be written by City Manager Ron Strand. It certainly wasn’t written or authorized by the City Council in a meeting with an Agenda. Is a Statement of this sort ipso facto evidence of another Brown Act violation? Was it authored by the Mayor, or any of the Councilmen? Or perhaps City Manager RON STRAND. We don’t know. Perhaps it was Councilman Scott Hayman, the City’s representative on the Groundwater Authority. We’ll post the images of the Statement below tomorrow, and once we get information from the city, we will post it here to correct and document the actual record of what happened.

UPDATE June 27, 2025: The Indian Wells Valley is now on Notice for Conspiracy to Commit Fraud

COUNT THREE: FRAUD-FRAUD-FRAUD and a PATTERN OF FRAUD.

If you’ve been following along with the story of the “Great Indian Wells Valley Water War”, a few years ago we told you abou the City of Ridgecrest’s plans for their Wastewater Treatment Plant and what they planned to do with your SH*T ETC, in a quite humorous but serious expose’ concerning the City of Ridgecrest and the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority’s nefarious plan to sell your SH*T ETC processed by the WTF to the Groundwater Authority to be processed into potable water to be injected into the groundwater basin or something. Whatever plan the GA had to do with your processed SH*T Etc. went down the toilet after the Groundwater Authority determined that the WTF project was “infeasible” sometime in 2023 or 2024. Whatever. The Groundwater Authority included this project in the IWV’s Groundwater Sustainabilty Plan (“the GSP”) and it’s unknown if the GA ever complied with 13 “Corrective Actions” issued by DWR after the first five-year update to the GSP.

Keith Lemieux, attorney for the City of Ridgecrest, negotiated an OPTION AGREEMENT with Keith Lemieux, attorney for the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, in the amount of $375,000 and for a five year term, knowing full well that the wastewater processed by the city wouldn’t be produced by the time the OPTION AGREEMENT expired because the primary treatment facility (the WWTF) and the secondary treatment facility hadn’t been built.

Publisher’s Note: Recently, George Kroll, the General Manager of the Indian Wells Valley Water District approached the City of Ridgecrest City Council during a public meeting in order to open discussions concerning the secondary wastewater treatment facility that would be needed to process the wastewater produced by the City’s WTF. Attorney Keith Lemieux was on hand via Video call in to tell Mr. Kroll “the good news” is that the IWVWD could go talk to the IWVGA as they had the OPTION AGREEMENT to buy the treated wastewater. What he didn’t mention was the OPTION AGREEMENT would soon expire anyway, so why did City Attorney Keith Lemieux tell Mr. Kroll to go to the GA to discuss the treated wastewater with the attorney for the GA, Keith Lemieux? See what we mean? These people think you’re stupid and that George Kroll is stupid. too. Keith Lemieux wants to keep the public in the dark. This is evident by his invocation of “attorney client privilege” on the Ridgecrest City Council members and the GA’s “legal strategy” with regards to AB 1413 and AB 1466.

The OPTION AGREEMENT IS BELOW, signed by the President of the Board of Directors for the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority (Unreadable signature, probably signed by Scott Hayman, who was the acting GA board chair at the time) and Ron Strand, City Manager, dated November 19th 2020. The option price was for $375,000.

In it, “City intends to replace the current Facility with a new Facility and anticipates that such
construction will take approximately three years to complete.”

This agreement is adopted in furtherance of the GSP project goals. The Authority desires
to purchase the Available Treated Water from the City and use it to mitigate against undesirable
results caused by the pumping of groundwater from the Basin pursuant to the Groundwater
Sustainability Plan (GSP) approved by the Authority. Doing so will meet the Parties shared
objective to optimize the use of the Available Treated Water to mitigate the need for imported
water and to maintain the sustainability of the water supply in the region. Through this agreement
the City pledges to make its treated water available for purchase by the Authority upon completion
of the new Facility.

Publisher’s Note: The City intended to sell the treated wastewater to the Groundwater Authority, and there was to be 2,000 acre feet of treated wastewater to be produced that the GA would then buy. The Option was for five years, and THERE WAS NEVER ANY POSSIBILITY THAT THE CITY COULD BUILD THE PLANT WITHIN THREE YEARS. It still hasn’t been built nearly FIVE YEARS LATER, and the OPTION AGREEMENT is about to expire.

Phill Hall seems to know nothing about this, or he forgot about it. Yesterday, we were engaged in an email skirmish and I brought up the Option Contract, saying that the City intended to sell the treated wastewater to the Groundwater Authority for $4,000,000 per year. I recall the price of the water to be paid was $2,130/AF, or the price set by the Groundwater Authority to determine the Replenishment Fee. If this is incorrect, the fact remains that “Dual Agent” Lemieux negotiated an Option Agreement between the City and the Groundwater Authority for the purchase of treated wastewater that he knew would NEVER be produced. Dual Agency is an inherent conflict of interest.

“And Wow – where did the $4 million come from – you got any support for that?” – Phill Hall email 6/25/2025

The Option Agreement is also posted below as well as on the Groundwater Authority’s “Contracts & Agreements” page on their website.

Yes! See the Option agreement that Keith Lemieux, dual agent for the GA and the City, prepared himself and signed by someone (Councilman and GA Board Chair Scott Hayman) for 375K for a 5 year option to buy, and my memory is hazy, 2000 AF of treated wastewater at $2,130 per AF per year. Do the math my friend, I think I rounded down to $4 mil. – Miguel T. Tonnis email 6/25/2025

UPDATE June 27, 2025: The Indian Wells Valley is now on Notice for Conspiracy to Commit Fraud

In law, an umbrella term is a term used to cover a group of concepts that all fall under a specific item. It is also called a hypernym. An umbrella paragraph is a paragraph that gives readers an overview of the law to be applied and a roadmap outlining the specific points to be addressed.

Under the UMBRELLA OF LAW, that is SGMA, fraud is rampant in the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority, and likely in each and every GSA created under the Law in the State of California. SGMA is a mess, the IWVGA is a mess, and SGMA is Fraud Writ Large. Very Large.

Fraud invalidates everything it touches, and there’s TONS of FRAUD AND CORRUPTION in the State of California AND SGMA, the 2014 law signed by Jerry Brown!

Meet Paul Gosselin, Deputy Director, Department of Water Resources

Paul Gosselin joined the Department of Water Resources (DWR) as the deputy director for sustainable groundwater management in July 2021. Paul oversees DWR’s groundwater management activities statewide, including the implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). 

Paul Gosselin is the Administrator of the Law of SGMA at the Department of Water Resources. WE THE PEOPLE have some questions that must be answered…

Contact Paul Gosselin, the Deputy Director for sustainable groundwater management (SGMA) at DWR

You can contact Mr. Gosselin, Deputy Director of SGMA at DWR via email: paul.gosselin@water.ca.gov Tell him how well the Indian Wells Valley was structured with “local control” or how they conducted meetings at a time when very few people could attend, and you can contact the Kern County District Attorney and Lt. Perez at dperez@kernda.org with any other information or complaints about the IWV Groundwater Authority that you may have.

Investigations (Bakersfield)

661-868-5851 Phone

Pichardoj@kernda.org (Jeanette at the front desk)

Lt. Perez – dperez@kernda.org

Re: Conspiracy to Commit Fraud in the City of Ridgecrest AND the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority

How Do I File a California PUBLIC RECORDS Act Request?

You may start with an informal request when filing a request to obtain a public record under the CPRA in California. The request may be made over the telephone. However, you must first decide which agency maintains that record before filing a request. Visit the website of the agency to access the applicable contact number. The agency may also provide a contact form on its website for requesters to complete a CPRA request. Many other agencies also provide links on their websites for requesters to download CPRA request applications forms which may be completed and mailed to the agencies’ mail addresses.

For instance, to obtain a public record from the State Bar of California, you may complete the Public Records Act Request Form and send it by electronic mail to PRA@calbar.ca.gov or mail it to:

The State Bar of California
ATTN: Public Records Request
845 S. Figueroa St., 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90017

Alternatively, you may also complete a written form and submit it by electronic mail or mail to the relevant address.

WE DEMAND ACCOUNTABILITY!

BREAKING: Judicial Watch is Suing Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass and Jerry Brown!

SGMA, California’s Sustainable Groundwater Managment Act of 2014 MUST Be Added to the List of Crimes and for Damages Suffered by the People of California!

Los Angeles is a lawless abyss, and Jerry Brown, Gavin Newsom, and Karen Bass are the maniacs who created it. Their insane, America-destroying policies—Brown’s SB 54 (2017), Newsom’s $4.8 billion Medi-Cal for illegals, and Bass’s 2024 sanctuary ordinance—have fueled riots since June 6, 2025, leaving over $50 million in damages. (Miguel thinks SGMA, the 2014 Sustainable Groundwater Management Act of 2014, signed by Governor Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown, should be added to their list of sins) 29 businesses looted, five Waymo cars torched, LAPD headquarters defaced—rioters blocked highways, burned dumpsters, and attacked police, with 851 arrests. This is their plan to gut our republic – no one has been able to stop them, but with your help, Freedom Watch’s lawsuit will hold them accountable! A clothing store owner, a Latino immigrant who came legally 25 years ago, lost $200,000 on June 6 when rioters looted his Fashion District shop, spray-painting “No Borders.” He’s insolvent, his employees jobless, because Newsom’s policies made LA a riot zone. A nurse, a mother of two, was stranded when rioters blocked the 101 Freeway, fearing for her life because Bass’s rhetoric emboldened the mob. These Americans are victims of 20 years of lunacy, from Brown’s AB 540 to Newsom’s 70,000 undocumented students getting taxpayer-funded tuition. Your city could burn next unless we step and fight now! California’s 2 million undocumented immigrants are a blueprint for chaos, and sanctuary cities are spreading. Your home, your business, your kids are at risk. Freedom Watch’s class action lawsuit will sue Brown, Newsom, Bass, and their cronies PERSONALLY for: 14th Amendment Due Process: Creating a riot-torn hell that stole your safety. 14th Amendment Equal Protection: Discriminating against citizens for illegals. Negligence: Failing to protect you from their policies’ chaos. Public Nuisance: Making LA a violent nightmare. Our victory will arm America, a template to end sanctuary policies nationwide. We need your help to make it happen. Please donate $25, $150, or $1,000 today. Fuel this historic fight to save your family from California’s treason. Don’t wait—donate now! In Justice, Larry Klayman Founder, Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch Chairman and General Counsel, Freedom Watch, Inc.

© 2025 Freedom Watch, Inc. 2020 Pennsylvania Ave, NW #345 Washington, DC 20006

This is the reason why AB 1413 and AB 1466 were written and produced by the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority and Capitol Core. I can’t prove it, but that’s my thinking. The GA is literally trying to perform an “end-around” the science and force an infeasible 50-mile-long pipeline down your throats and calling it “the AVEK imported water project”. I’ll bet Phill Hall a dinner at Texas Roadhouse that I’m right about this if he’s game. (He wasn’t and didn’t take the bet.)

We didn’t know who was behind the introduction of AB 1413 and AB 1466 at the time we wrote about the trip by Blades, Hayman and Strand to Sacramento, but now we do know that it was Capitol Core Group, Michael W. McKinney, founder and CEO, the Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority’s “consultant” or lobbyist* for all manners legislative and money-raising.

The Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) requires local Groundwater Sustainability Agencies (GSAs) in the state’s high and medium priority basins to develop and implement Groundwater Sustainability Plans (GSPs) or Alternatives to GSPs. These GSPs and Alternatives provide roadmaps for how groundwater basins will reach long-term sustainability. – Department of Water Resources

The Doctrine of “federal reserve water rights” was developed as a result of years of litigation concerning the establishment of water rights for Indian reservations and the surface flows of rivers between states or through national forests. Never has the doctrine been used to establish groundwater rights for the military. It’s an unprecedented use of a doctrine that has no basis in prior case law. SGMA codified and effectively laid the groundwork for the Navy’s use of the doctrine.

Attorneys at Navy Region Southwest worked in conjunction with Supervisor Gleason to create the Groundwater Authority and they proceeded to use the Navy’s models to establish the framework for determination of such things as safe yield, overdraft and recharge in the groundwater basin.

By asserting “federal reserve water rights”, the Navy is using a doctrine that has no basis in fact or precedent. It’s an attempt by the military to establish water rights on BLM public lands have been withdrawn from public use for military reservations throughout the western United States.

The Navy’s assertion will impact private property rights in many cities and towns that surround military reservations which total approximately 16 million acres of BLM public lands, status withdrawn by the military.

The Indian Wells Valley Groundwater Authority says that the valley has only 7,650 acre feet of recharge and 10 or 11 million acre feet of water underground, and well levels are declining because over 20,000 acre feet is being pumped from the underground aquifer. This is called “overdraft”.

Because of SGMA, the private property owners in the Indian Wells Valley, the one’s who own the water rights under the land, are now confronted with a “taking” by the federal government. The Navy and the DOJ are involved in an adjudication lawsuit brought by the Indian Wells Valley Water District, and the district represents the property owners in their district, including the residents living in the City of Ridgecrest.

“The City Owns Its Water” says LADWP on its website

Pictured above is water being pumped from the ground into a trench up by Bishop California. This is land owned by LADWP, and it’s just a small representation of the dirt canals and pipes that are used to transport the water via the Owen’s river to the Haiwee reservoir where it enters the LA Aqueduct pipelines going to Los Angeles. It’s very wasteful and inefficient, and there are hundreds of wells throughout the region. After decades of lawsuits, water is now spread on Owens (mostly dry) lake to keep the dust down. LADWP is currently completing construction for additional storage at Haiwee.

“It is not the economic theory of municipal ownership and administration of public utilities which concerns us; we are confronted with a condition and not a theory. The city owns its water, and our experience should convince us of…the farsighted wisdom of our Spanish and Mexican predecessors in holding on to the rights of the waters of Los Angeles with a grip of iron.” Board of Water Commissioners, First Annual Report, 1902

Inyo County is a player and ground zero in the long history of California’s water wars. The county has had its lifeblood of water sucked dry by LADWP for over 100 years. It’s the “Cadillac Desert”. (Hint to the GA: The LADWP could use some good PR right about now.)

The story of the American West is the story of a relentless quest for a precious resource: water. It is a tale of rivers diverted and dammed, of political corruption and intrigue, of billion-dollar battles over water rights, of ecological and economic disaster. In his landmark book, Cadillac Desert, Marc Reisner writes of the earliest settlers, lured by the promise of paradise, and of the ruthless tactics employed by Los Angeles politicians and business interests to ensure the city’s growth. 

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.

As in all wars, there are the good guys and the bad guys. In order to win this war, we (the good guys) are reminded by Shakespear’s famous line in Act IV, Scene II of Henry VI, Part 2. The actual quote is: “The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.

Politicians and satirists occasionally use the phrase to make light of legal or political situations. Its humorous undertone allows it to be employed without promoting violence but rather as a commentary on the complexities of legal systems.

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/lets-kill-all-the-lawyers