Gym owner charged for opening during coronavirus shutdown, California prosecutor says
A gym owner in California has been charged after allegedly violating the state’s coronavirus shutdown orders, according to the San Diego District Attorney’s office.
Peter San Nicolas, owner of Ramona Fitness Center, has been charged with five misdemeanor counts for violating the California Emergency Services Act in June and July, according to a criminal complaint.
Gov. Gavin Newsom issued public health orders in March shutting down non-essential businesses and asking people to stay home.
Indoor dining, bars, zoos, and museums were forced to close again in July after a spike in coronavirus cases, The Los Angeles Times reported.
San Nicolas told The San Diego Union-Tribune that he closed the gym for 85 days starting in March and reopened in June before the state officially allowed gyms to reopen. His charges relate to opening the gym on five separate days in violation with the statewide order — three days in early June and two days in mid-July, according to the criminal complaint.
“We lost over a quarter-million dollars,” San Nicolas said, saying he considered closing the gym in early June when sheriff’s deputies told him he was violating shutdown orders.
“We understand and sympathize with the significant hardship placed on businesses who are required to remain closed,” Tanya Sierra, Public Affairs Officer for the San Diego District Attorney’s office told McClatchy News in a statement. “But public health orders are in place to safeguard the health of everyone in our community amid this deadly pandemic. Along with our law enforcement partners, we work with businesses to give them opportunities to achieve voluntary compliance. But when the public health order is ignored and the law is broken, the public’s health is at risk and we will file charges.”
San Nicolas told KNSD in mid-July that he would open again despite the threat of criminal action.
“I had people not happy with me, and so someone would call the sheriff’s department every day,” he said. “The sheriff’s department would come down, and we would let them know we’re going to stay open.”
San Nicolas also said that the gym hasn’t been connected to COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the Union-Tribune.
Other gyms have vowed to stay open despite the latest shutdown order.
“Our First Amendment speaks clearly, we are here for the people and if they choose to come, we are here,” Fitness Mania owner Mike Ends of Riverside told KNBC. “We want to stay open, we can’t close. If we close, we will lose everything we have.”
Metroflex Gym owner Lou Uridel said his gym in Oceanside has been open since May, KGTV reported.
“We have only one plan, that’s to stay open. We don’t have the option to keep closing opening, closing opening.” Uridel said.
More than 4.7 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the U.S. and more than 156,000 people have died as of August 4, according to Johns Hopkins University. California has reported the highest overall COVID-19 infection total of any U.S. state, with about 519,000 lab-confirmed cases confirmed as of Tuesday, the Sacramento Bee reported.
This story was originally published August 4, 2020 at 4:47 PM with the headline "Gym owner charged for opening during coronavirus shutdown, California prosecutor says."