The U.S. Department of Agriculture has imposed sanctions on 11 produce businesses for failing to meet contractual obligations to the sellers of produce they purchased and failing to pay reparation awards issued under the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. These sanctions include suspending the businesses’ PACA licenses and barring the principal operators of the businesses from engaging in PACA-licensed business or other activities without approval from USDA.
The following businesses and individuals are currently restricted from operating in the produce industry:
Juan Torres
Tuolumne, CA – Noticing another motorist stopping at mailboxes in the Tuolumne area a passerby decided to follow the driver while calling 911.
Deputies were dispatched to Cherry Valley Boulevard and found the alleged thief had crashed his vehicle. Sheriff’s officials say 37-year-old Juan Carlos Torres of Merced lost control of the vehicle while speeding and went off the roadway into a field, suffering minor injuries in the collision.
A search of the vehicle turned up numerous pieces of mail, burglary tools, and drug paraphernalia. Torres was arrested without incident. While at the jail, two baggies of methamphetamine totaling over 2.5 grams and a methamphetamine smoking pipe were found on him after a body search, according to sheriff’s officials.