The owner of a clothing-optional resort near Los Gatos was sentenced Monday after pleading no contest to trespassing after she repeatedly diverted water from a creek to her drought-stricken resort in 2014, Santa Clara County prosecutors said.
Lupin Lodge's sole owner Lori Kay Stout, 53, and her corporation Lupin Heights Inc. pleaded no contest Monday to conspiracy, trespassing for the purpose of injuring a property right and unlawful diversion of water without notifying the state Department of Fish and Wildlife, according to prosecutors.
Stout was sentenced to a year of probation and 100 hours of community service. She also must pay a $2,500 fine and restitution of $9,819.16 to the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, which owns the
creek.
Lupin Heights Inc. was sentenced to three years of court probation with several special conditions of probation, including orders that the owner must put up signs at the lodge notifying guests that the open space district property is not open to guests, Deputy District Attorney Denise Raabe said.
"This appropriate sentence underscores that individuals and businesses cannot simply take what they want from their neighbors without permission or consequence," Raabe said in a statement.
In June, Stout was charged with diverting water from a section of Hendry's Creek to the resort along with her husband Glyn Stout, 77, and two of their resident-employees, 50-year-old John Berryessa and 39-year-old
Michael Buckland.
Charges were eventually dismissed against Berryessa, Buckland and Glyn Stout, who died last year, prosecutors said.
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In July 2014, the defendants asked the open space district if they could install temporary pipes from the creek to their lodge, but the district rejected the request, prosecutors said.
The district had warned the owners to stop diverting the water, but they defied the orders and trespassed onto the creek property repeatedly between July 28 and Nov. 1, 2014, prosecutors said.
Wildlife cameras owned by the district showed an old fire trail was cleared, resulting in environmental damage. Additionally, water lines were installed at the creek and other springs that all ran to the lodge,
prosecutors said.
The cameras also showed people trespassing on the property and carrying plastic tubing, according to prosecutors.
Lupin Lodge is a 110-acre clothing-optional resort near Lexington Reservoir that was founded in 1936.
