Court Tethers Old Man to SoCal for Letting Dog Off Leash

John Gladwin, a 69-year-old Army veteran,
“must allow home visits by a federal probation officer, file
monthly activity reports and … must get written authorization
anytime he leaves the massive Central District covering most of
Southern California,”
details LA Weekly. The government chooses to
monitor this retiree and restrict his movement, though he’s never
committed a violent crime or sold illegal drugs or weapons. No, he
let his dog, Molly, off her leash to play just beyond their yard in
the vast expanse of Santa Monica Mountains.

The thing is, Molly has never actually caused trouble with
hikers or others in these mountains, which are divided among four
different authorities – California State Parks, Santa Monica
Mountains Conservancy, Mountains Recreation and Conservation
Authority and U.S. National Park Service – and each have different
rules. But he’s twice been caught in federal territory just
hundreds of feet from his own property and has been prosecuted for
violating a leash law. Now, “if he’s caught with so much as a foot
in the park, which stretches 50 miles from the Hollywood Hills
to Point Mugu, [Gladwin] will go to jail.”

Gladwin is riding out a 12-month probation for what seems like a
few unfortunate encounters with officials on power trips. From the
Weekly:

Supervisory Park Ranger Bonnie Clarfield, of the U.S. Department
of Interior, testified against Gladwin at his November 2013 and
April 2014 trials. Colleagues have teasingly dubbed her the “dog
narc” — for her strict enforcement of leash laws during her 33
years on the job.

Things came to a head before Gladwin’s first trial, during the
government shutdown last Nobember:

Clarfield had stayed on the job that night, and spotted Gladwin
and the dog. She was all set to give him a warning — until she
recognized his name, by then infamous to the rangers. Clarfield
issued him a citation — requiring a court appearance.

Clarfield isn’t the only one that’s opted to be tough on
Gladwin. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sharon McCaslin, who hands most
misdemeanors for the Central District, told the
Weekly, “I’ve never had someone, while a trial was
pending, go and commit the same offense. He’s incorrigible. … He
thinks the park is his backyard.”

Gladwin has twice opted to go to trial rather than accept a plea
bargain offered by the U.S. Attorney.

“[McCaslin’s] job is to make sure that nobody goes to trial,”
Gladwin says of the prosecutor’s misdemeanor caseload. “That’s
strike No. 1 against me, because I chose to go to trial.” He
believes McCaslin is using his case as a learning experience for
her law student interns.

“These people need push-back. They’re just wasting resources,”
Gladwin says. “Now it’s all been about punishing me. To what
end?”

Gladwin says that “the probation department doesn’t even take it
seriously” and that it seems like a lot of government resources
going to waste to hammer him, since he’s changed his route and
takes Molly on walks on private land.