Rawesome Raid: The Aftermath

Yesterday's raid on Rawesome Foods in Venice has some locals steaming. NaturalNews.tv has several interviews with Rawesome club members (including one with writer/actress Mariel Hemingway, granddaughter of Ernest), who are adrift without their raw dairy. One volunteer says authorities "raped" and "pillaged" Rawesome's supply, either carrying it away or dumping it in the street. Natural News' video also includes a tour of a sad-looking, empty walk-in fridge.

Near the end of the video is audio of Rawesome owner James Stewart calling from jail, encouraging all raw food supporters to come protest at the courthouse at his arraignment the next day (today).

And protest they did. Raw food advocate and blogger Cheese Slave was there at the Los Angeles County Court House to lend her support to Stewart, as well as Sharon Ann Palmer and Eugenie Bloch of Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula who were arrested too. She documented the demonstration with photos (below) and later tweeted the outcome of the arraignment: "Rawesome update: Victoria released. James has bail reduced to $30K; bail condition: cant sell raw dairy without a license. #rawmilkraid"

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Meanwhile, footage of yesterday's raid is beginning to emerge.

via LAist:

via Reason.tv:

According to the Los Angeles County District Attorney, James Stewart faces 13 counts against him -- four of which are criminal conspiracy charges related to the unauthorized sale of raw dairy products. Sharon Ann Palmer is charged with 9 of those counts, while Eugenie Victoria Bloch is charged with three. Stewart and Bloch were arraigned today, while Palmer's arraignment is still pending.

Comments

[tower20]

12:52 AM on 08/06/2011

After a year long investigation, the FDA conducts a multi-agency raid with an armed SWAT team on Rawsome, a private food coop in Venice CA where people go by choice to buy healthy food. They put the people who run the coop in jail. No one has ever gotten sick let alone died from food purchased at Rawsome. Meanwhile, 3,000 people per year DIE from food poisoning in America, that's 8 per day. 50 million people a year get sick from food poisoning, that's 137,000 per day. Perhaps our limited government resources are being misappropriated.

[allisonisa39e]

06:11 PM on 08/05/2011

Question: Why do we pay high taxes ?
Answer: So that we can have government spend it violating our rights.

[JohnnyLawson]

11:14 AM on 08/05/2011

"Raped and pillaged?" your inventory?..nice choice of idiotic words...

[DRaymond]

11:13 AM on 08/05/2011

California Food and Agriculture Code Section 33226

Every person shall obtain a permit from the secretary before engaging in the business of processing or distributing market milk. Upon receipt of an application for a permit, the secretary shall cause an investigation to be made of the milk products plant or place of business from which milk is distributed. If this division and the standards that are established pursuant to the authority that is granted in this division are complied with, a permit shall be issued by the secretary to the milk products plant or place of business. The permit shall be issued for a period not to exceed one year.

Is there any indication that they did this?

[allisonisa39e]

06:33 PM on 08/05/2011

Alta Dina some years ago sold raw milk. They had permanent raids and finally caved. The constant raids and waste of their products made it economically infeasible to continue producing raw milk. Rather then be forced out of business they discontinued the production of raw milk.

"I AM FROM THE GOVERNMENT AND I AM HERE TO HELP YOU." (EVEN IF IT KILLS YOU.)

[DrDeadline]

08:17 PM on 08/05/2011

My family and I enjoyed Alta Dena Raw Milk as early as '71 and never had or heard of a problem. This is a ridiculous waste of of my tax dollars.

[mutton]

03:00 AM on 08/05/2011

The sensational Natural News "coverage" is so over the top that it's hurting their cause. They've said the raid was conducted by SWAT with guns drawn, said NPR did a "hatchet job" on the place, and that the Drudge Report (!) gave them a fair shake, and this represented "state sponsored terrorism". Jeezus. People, get a grip. Pull it back, do some realistic reporting and you'll more easily make your case to the public. Right now you're just feeding people what they expect to see from kooky health freaks.

[mekotodo]

01:34 PM on 08/05/2011

Drew Carey and "Reason" TV don't hold much credibility in my book, either. "Free" market ideologues hell bent on privatizing everything. I remember him holding a "smoke-in" at Barney's Beanery to protest LA anti-smoking laws in restaurants and bars. He claimed it was his "individual liberty" to invade my own private lungs. Sorry, but Ayn Rand and American Libertarianism is a suspect agenda.

[wandrn]

08:34 PM on 09/03/2011

kooky health freaks?? THAT is the funniest thing I have read in a long time. I hope you choke on your Big Mac.

[Alice Radley]

11:51 PM on 08/04/2011

Huh. The Healthy Family Farms sell meat at the Malibu Farmers Market. They have very good eggs.

I'm not sure I understand the deal with this raw milk. Why did Rawesome not have the proper permit? My local health food store (PC Greens) has the permit, and sells raw milk. There has never been a problem here.

[max magraw]

12:44 AM on 08/05/2011

Hey Alice, Check out the site, unhealthyfamilyfarm dot com. Trust me, I understand humans live out of LOVE or FEAR. I was fearful all night last night reading about this raid. It wasn't what it appeared. The owner of the farm is a 2 time felon for charges ranging from fraud, conspiracy, theft........etc.

Wait until you see the pics from the farm. Those eggs, the commercial crates they came in on, all in the dumpster, and put into the "organic" crates". Commercial chickens being repackaged as organically fed on grass.......there is no grass to be found.

I researched the credibility of the people on the site, and they are all top notch, the private detective has been licensed for 30 years, and Dr. Aajonus Vonderplanitz, Ph.D. Nutrition.

I worried myself sick about this when the articles and videos came out....then I found that site a couple hours ago........ What a waste of time worrying.

[Alice Radley]

12:22 PM on 08/05/2011

Well that's a bummer. Won't be buying from them again. That's a shame.

[TaurusRose]

04:39 PM on 08/05/2011

I see we are neighbors, Alice, and we both have the same questions.

[Alice Radley]

05:00 PM on 08/05/2011

We have a least a few things in common. Always funny to find that on the internet.

It is a great neighborhood, isn't it? We're at Carbon Beach. This is the most amazing place I've ever lived. The weather is awesome every single day. We were just in Westlake Village (I have to hit Bristol Farms), and I was so glad to come back home. I haven't even been running the AC. It's been nice with just the windows open.

[AngryVirgo]

11:24 PM on 08/04/2011

A misuse of power. How about the heath inspector. Full on guns drawn swat bust for CHEESE GROMIT!

[DRaymond]

11:35 AM on 08/05/2011

Trust me, that was hardly a full on guns drawn swat bust but standard procedure for making an entry into an unknown and potentially hostile situation.  Those guys were not a SWAT team just because they were wearing vests.

[jvaish]

05:12 PM on 08/05/2011

Why was a raid required at all? At best they should have provided a cease-and-desist letter. Really? Raw milk sellers hostile? Where is the precedent for that. They had already raided the place once and had no problems. None of the patrons had guns or had a history of carrying firearms. It was members of the CDC, FBI, LAPD and the FDA that conducted the raid. On a single store that had no history of selling products that caused illness. How about a little discernment? Seriously.

[Trickery]

11:03 PM on 08/04/2011

Wow, I feel bad for James :(

[dbrett480]

10:44 PM on 08/04/2011

Maybe I'm asking a stupid question; but why didn't they just get a license to sell raw products? You can't honestly expect the Health Department to allow unlicensed stores to operate without intervention.

[DRaymond]

11:56 AM on 08/05/2011

Why didn't they get a license? I don't know for certain, but it might have something with the statement in the reason.tv 'report' that said that the owner "purposely flouts FDA and USDA Guidelines in order to provide truly raw food to its members. "Its how nature provides the food without man becoming involved...""

Sorry, but nature provides the milk from teat to mouth, or possibly from teat to pail to mouth.  It does not provide it from teat to container to hours in a truck to more hours on a store shelf to car to home to mouth.  We are already way more involved than 'nature intended' so that is why the safe handling guidelines are intended to keep things from getting too raw.

[jvaish]

04:58 PM on 08/05/2011

Your argument is irrelevant. It's a private club. Members sign a waiver. What happened was tantamount to the cops coming into your house and telling you can't drink milk from your own cow without a license. You may not like the fact that they were able to do what they did, but by definition it's not illegal.

[dbrett480]

05:56 PM on 08/05/2011

There are many raw food collectives and stores that operate with proper licensing. So this seems to be more about the owner making a stand against the government for no good reason.

[Richcrafter]

10:07 PM on 08/04/2011

Watch the documentary "The Corporation"; it is a powerful voice of truth told by the very persons who created these corporations, e.g. Monsanto. If you watch it you will never drink pasteurized milk again. As as for Downer Cows? Well, it's not a "brand". This is very, very sad! Over sheeps milk? God save us all. I've never heard of anyone getting sick from a purchase at Rawesome. This is the antipode to awesome.

[max magraw]

10:02 PM on 08/04/2011

Sharon Palmer is a 2 time convicted felon for fraud related issues. The media works both ways.

[jvaish]

04:59 PM on 08/05/2011

Yeah. You're right. Simply reading somewhere that someone said she is a felon doesn't make it completely accurate. Here's another side of the story.

http://www.thecompletepatient.com/journal/2009/1/15/sharon-palmer-answers-her-critics-and-reminds-us-the-real-is.html

[max magraw]

09:58 PM on 08/04/2011

I have spent way to much time worrying about this issue. I feel like I need to let others know what I discovered.

If you don't know the background of the owners of the healthy family farm, check out this site.............

Pics, testimonials, scientific studies on the "raw" "organic" food these people were getting........OUTRAGEOUS FRAUD!!!!

unhealthyfamilyfarm dot com

[socalcde]

11:25 PM on 08/04/2011

Even if what you are saying is true, the issue here is that they have been arrested for "selling" it when they are a club.

[max magraw]

12:22 AM on 08/05/2011

I am not "saying" anything. I am looking at the facts. I wouldn't have spent a single minute of my life reading about this, if I would have known the background of the people involved. The pics of the farm on that site alone will make you sick.
From a private investigator 30 years in business:
"The articles cover felony convictions for Sharon Palmer-Ross in Santa Clara court in 2000 where
she pled guilty to 2 felony counts of conspiracy to commit elder fraud and two felony counts of
conspiracy to commit grand theft. She was to receive 16 months prison at sentence. Santa Clara
Felony case # is C9936278.
A second article covers federal felony charges filed in LA against Palmer, who was convicted of
loan fraud and received 3 years probation and 4 months’s home detention"

Instead of worrying about this, which wasn't as it appeared, I am spending my time researching Codex Alimentarius. If I wouldn't have found that site, I would still be thinking we are currently under attack. Once I saw the previous fraud, conspiracy, and theft charges in the cases mentioned about the owner above, I decided to move on. I just hoped maybe one person could sleep better tonight, I slept like crap last night after reading about it, after knowing the facts, or at least knowing both sides of the story.

[DRaymond]

10:56 AM on 08/05/2011

You can't just call yourself a 'club' in order to get around health laws.  By that definition Costco is a 'club' too since you have to buy an annual membership.  Does that mean that Costco is exempt from health laws?  I hope not.

[Illuminatididit]

01:38 AM on 08/05/2011

Why don't you understand that even if this woman was a felon. The Government doesn't have the right to destroy someone's private property. Especially, we the store is privatly owned and the patrons agree to the terms. It is a crime to drink this posionous milk produced by Monsantos and every other Criminal Comglomerate that is trying to kill us all. Take this back to the bosses you work for and tell them that troll!!!!

[max magraw]

10:29 AM on 08/05/2011

Clearly you didn't go to that site. It's got pictures from inside the farm..... The private property that was destroyed, wasn't organic as labeled. I am POSITIVE, the patrons, private or not, had not seen the pics or ever even been to this site.

I work for no one. Just saw both sides of the story.

[socalcde]

09:43 PM on 08/04/2011

Tax funds are being spent on all of this? Why aren't the tea baggers up in arms?

[zagyzebra]

11:21 PM on 08/04/2011

Truly!

[Christie Cali]

08:21 AM on 08/05/2011

We are for many reasons. Gov't intrusion into a private food club, malfeasance of funds, abuse of authority. Tea Partiers are upset about this as well.

So you know "tea baggers" is not very nice. If you want people to have a civil tone--be civil.

[socalcde]

10:13 AM on 08/05/2011

Just for the record; with the current state of our nation, this is not the time for civility towards people who by "over-simplifying" every issue are working to bring our nation down. You need to understand that you are an under informed minority and not everybody is going to sit back and give you a forum to spew your ridiculous and perilous view without getting angry. Hopefully before your time is up on this earth, you will have a more clear understanding of truth and history, but at the moment, you are an embarrassment to this country.

[Carolyn Kostopoulos]

09:04 PM on 08/04/2011

the FDA must be disbanded. they are clearly engaged in a war against the people at the behest of their corporate overlords

[Bernard Fauchier]

03:43 PM on 08/05/2011

Why dont they close down Monsanto ?

[Kyle Herring]

08:49 PM on 08/04/2011

Sign my petition at the web-site below to help get Rawesome Foods owner James Stewart out of prison and set things right

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/totally-rawesome/

[AngryVirgo]

11:22 PM on 08/04/2011

Done. I live in Venice and drove by as it was happening.