[junebug]

These pictures were taken this weekend in the Hemet area.
The fires came through here twice last year, and open up the trails
to dirt bikes, quads etc. Now someone has booby trapped the area
with nails driven into boards and buried in the sand.
I found 2 off the traps last week, one was a close call.

 

[junebug]

The pictures are to big to upload. now what?

 

[MikeD]

That sucks to hear.

To upload your pics, you'll need to re-size them in Photoshop, or else place them on a webpage somewhere else, then use HTML tags in your post to link them. The board does it automatically if you select the link option in your posting; just paste in the photo's location (found by right-clicking on the pic and selecting properties). Or, just type

. The pic will appear, full size, in your posts.

MD

 

[junebug]

hemet

 

[1000-Oaks]

Tell the cops, setting a booby-trap is a serious felony.

 

[junebug]

Good idea, except the trails are on private land, and we are trespassing.
Hemet has no public land, so our trail system is built on large parcels of un-developed land that we just went in and made singletrack.

 

[Kornphlake]

Well then, there's the problem. I thought we had another Anderson situation developing. Have you tried to find the owner of the land to get permission to ride? It's worth a shot, it may be somebody who is doing something else illegal who is setting the booby traps and the land owner doesn't know anything about it.

 

[1000-Oaks]

Actually, per penal code 602 you're only tresspassing if you're:
- damaging property
- ruining crops
- shooting firearms
- driving a motor vehicle
- defacing signs or other vandalism
- squatting/inhabiting structures

And the big one:
- have been asked to leave and don't

You can't be found guilty of tresspassing for just riding your bike on private property, at least not if you fight the ticket. Doesn't mean you're not a a-hole for doing it, but it's not illegal. Even if you had to jump a posted fence to get there, you're still legal in CA

Ask me how I know...

 

[EBasil]

Even if you had to jump a posted fence to get there, you're still legal in CA

Ask me how I know...

I'll bite: how do you "know" this?

 

[1000-Oaks]

Myself and a few other guys were charged with trespassing (riding our mountain bikes on a paved but "private" road) about six years ago. The judge threw it out when the public defender pointed out that the law hadn't been broken. I should have simply been asked to leave instead of cited for tresspasssing, since aside from being on a private road I wasn't doing anything wrong.

It sucked, cost me a few days vacation from work just to fight it. And if we had pled guilty at the arraignment we would have never found out that no law was broken.

 

[HarryCallahan]

Um, not so fast there, 1000 Oaks. My understanding is that you can go on private property for a legal purpose, such as delivering a package, or retrieving a hat that blew over the fence. Without that legal purpose, and absent those things you mention in the PC602, you get one (1) , opportunity to leave and not come back without a citation. If you are found trespassing a second time, lotsa luck.

 

[HarryCallahan]

OK. I see where 1000 Oaks and his buddies got off.

Here's a link to the penal code section. Scroll down to 602. It's pretty convoluted, but, as the judge said, 1000 Oaks and his buddies should have been told to leave, and only cited if they then refused. What's not clear is what if you keep coming back

But there are a whole bunch of other sections

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate?WAISdocID=2517201573+0+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve

 

[EBasil]

I still don't see it, unless the "posting" was only that it was a Private Road, and the riders were on that road. If the riders were on a TRAIL, to keep it pertinent, and that trail/area was marked No Trespassing at all entry trails and long the perimeter of the property, then Penal Code 602 provides it's a Misdemeanor.

In order to be arrested, the landowner either has to be present to request The Man to bust you down, or the landowner can sign a 30-day Authorization to allow The Man to seek and arrest trespassers on that land.

Oh, check this excerpt out, for giggles:
2) In order for there to be a violation of this subdivision, the
trespass signs under paragraph (1) must be displayed at intervals not
less than three per mile along all exterior boundaries and at all
roads and trails entering the land.