Father and son charged with illegal gold mining in California: ‘This is not 1849’

A father and son have been sentenced to county jail for illegal gold mining in California, with the district attorney declaring: “This is not 1849.”​Gregory Arnoldi Jr., from Nevada City, and his father, Gregory Arnoldi Sr., from Browns Valley, constructed an illegal dirt road along Keystone Creek near Loganville in Sierra County, prosecutors say. ​An image released by the Sierra County Sheriff’s Office shows one of the two defendants driving a digger. The sheriff’s office says the vehicle was used to make alterations to a historic carriage route in order to allow passage for their truck and mining equipment.The work resulted in rock and soil tumbling into Keystone Creek, which flows into the Yuba River, they added. ​“In this case, the defendants’ illegal mining scheme vandalized private and public property and caused significant damage to those properties and to the natural resources that make Sierra County a desirable place to live and visit, including damage to mining artifacts (sic),” Groven said. “This is not 1849.“Accordingly, they were sentenced to jail time for those decisions and will have to restore what they damaged at their expense.”​Gregory Arnoldi Sr and Jr were sentenced to jail time (Sierra County Sheriff's Office)​District Attorney Sandra Groven told CBS News Sacramento said the father and son were first charged in May after a local raised concerns about their activities. ​The gold miners were handed a number of charges by Groven’s office, including felony vandalism of public land managed by the United States Forest Service and adjacent private property, felony criminal conspiracy, and misdemeanor charges alleging water pollution.​They were also charged with alteration of a stream without first notifying the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, mining without a Reclamation Plan and without a Sierra County Conditional Use Permit, and grading without a permit.​Both Arnoldi Jr. and Sr. entered pleas of no contest to charges of felony vandalism of public and private properties, as well as misdemeanor water pollution and stream alteration charges.Sierra County was a major hub during the California Gold Rush. This image shows gold found in 2025 in El Dorado County (AFP/Getty)The Arnoldis were each sentenced to 30 days in a county jail, to pay a fine of $8,135 and to establish a restoration plan for the areas that they vandalized. The associated costs of permitting, design and construction are to be borne by the pair.​If they fail to carry out the restoration by August 1, 2027, the pair will be sentenced to an additional eight months in county jail and will need to pay $30,000 each in fines. ​The father and son were also placed on felony probation for three years and are banned from mining during this period.​Sierra County was a hub for miners during the California Gold Rush, with around 16,000 miners arriving in the area between 1848 and 1860.​Speaking to CBS News Sacramento, Groven said that protecting such a historic area can be difficult. ​“We are a small county with a lot of public lands which are remote, so enforcement can be difficult,” Groven said. “We prosecute the cases which are reported and substantiated by sufficient evidence. In this case, damage done to the environment was extensive.”