San Luis Obispo County’s top stories in 2025: Threats, obstruction, arson

December 29, 2025

SLO County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding

By CalCoastNews staff

To say 2025 was an eventful year in San Luis Obispo County would be an understatement. The top stories of 2025 include the arrest of a man planning to kill the district attorney and bomb a school, an arson fire at the historic Templeton Feed and Grain, and allegations of obstruction of justice and a disciplinary filing against attorney John Belsher.

Man plots to blow up school, kill SLO County prosecutor

FBI agents disrupted a 41-year-old man’s plan to kill San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow and then explode a bomb at Templeton High School with the goal of murdering 400 people.

David William Platek detailed his plan to extract retribution over his 2019 arrest for allegedly impersonating a local activist who pointed out the misdeeds of then-San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Adam Hill and Hill’s allies. Platek focused his rage on Dow and his family.

“Everything I’m told says killing kids is the most pain I can inflict, and I have the right to fight back against the people who did this to me. A primal right,” Platek wrote. “Bullets are cheap and children are plentiful. SLO wants to destroy my life, I’ll blow up one of their schools.”

From Dec. 7, 2024 through Dec. 16, 2024, Platek sent dozens of texts to an acquaintance regarding his plans for revenge while also sending threats via social media to Dow.

Platek planned to rent a van and make a bomb from explosives and fertilizer, he texted. He would drive from his home in Missouri to San Luis Obispo County and, after killing Dow, he would explode the bomb at the school the prosecutor’s children attended – Templeton High School.

His trial for allegedly making terrorist threats is slated to start in February.

Teenage arsonists set fire to the historic Templeton Feed and Grain

Four teenage arsonists allegedly threw fireworks on the roof of Templeton Feed and Grain on the evening of July 4, destroying the granary and damaging the retail structure.

Shortly after 11 p.m., an alarm sounded at the feed store on Main Street in downtown Templeton. As firefighters battled the blaze, flames shot from the top of the 80-foot grain silos. The fire burned for two days.

Members of the community watched as the buildings burned and as the silos were torn down, some crying at the loss of the structure built in 1912.

Moving forward, with the help of members of the community, including local contractors, the family plans to retain the front of the concrete building while rebuilding the rest of the retail structure. It is expected to take about a year to finish.

Plans for windmills of the coast of Morro Bay takes hit, after hit after hit

On his first day in office, President Donald Trump signed an executive order halting new offshore wind leases in federal waters while pausing current leases, such as the three charters off the coast of Morro Bay.

While the Secretary of the Interior examines the ecological, economic, and environmental necessity of terminating or amending any existing wind energy leases, agencies are barred from issuing or renewing approvals, permits or loans for both onshore and offshore wind projects, according to the order.

In 2022, the federal government auctioned off three offshore wind energy sites located between 20 and 30 miles off the coast of Morro Bay. The goal was to have the windmills in the water by 2030. However, the projects are dependent on government subsidies and the industrialization of several local ports.

In addition to the wind farms, there are plans to industrialize Port San Luis and the Morro Bay Harbor. The support systems on land would include massive piers, and could require new breakwaters and dredging.

Earlier this month, based on national security concerns, the Trump administration suspended leases for all off-shore wind farms currently under construction in the United States. The pause provides the Department of War time to assess the possibility of mitigating the national security risks posed by the projects.

Supervisor Jimmy Paulding’s involvement in Nipomo battery storage facility exposed

In the aftermath of a battery fire in Moss Landing, concerned Nipomo residents voiced safety concerns earlier this year regarding the Caballero battery storage project in their neighborhood. San Luis Obispo County Supervisor Jimmy Paulding responded saying he was not aware of the project, a statement contradicted by his office’s emails.

Paulding responded to concerns regarding Caballero Energy Storage on the Dave Congalton radio show on Feb. 19, arguing he was largely unaware of the project, though he did agree that there should have been more public outreach.

“It wasn’t even on my radar,” Paulding told Congalton. “I wasn’t involved at all.”

However, not only was Paulding aware of the project, working with the developer, his office pushed county staff to provide permits before the developer complied with “fire and life safety measures.”

For example, on Oct. 18, 2024, Paulding’s office sent an email to Trevor Keith, the SLO County planning department director, asking if the project was on hold because it had not met the fire safety condition.

“Also, we’ve heard that the Caballero project is facing some delay from going online that may be Cal Fire related,” according to an email from Paulding’s office. “Do you have any information on that, or should we reach out to Cal Fire directly?”

Keith told Pauling’s office to reach out to Cal Fire and Ben Dore with the SLO County Counsel Office.

An attorney for the project, Christopher Guillen, emailed Paulding on Oct. 21, 2024 thanking him “for the quick call back and attention to this matter.”

Settlements and lawsuits roil San Luis Ranch builder

Located across from Laguna lake, San Luis Ranch is advertised as a neighborhood that “embraces the natural relationship between farming and sustainable, healthy living.”

Despite the appearance, many of the homes have serious structural defects including leaking windows, black mold, doors that don’t shut properly, huge holes in walls and flooding issues.

One of the homeowners, Gina Biegel, moved into her home in Dec. 2021. She then sued developer Gary Grossman. She received a significant settlement earlier this year.

Matthew and Jeannie Pleasant moved into a new home in San Luis Ranch in Oct. 2021. Their excitement, however, was short-lived. In less than a month, the couple observed “bowing walls, cracks in drywall, misaligned trim and water intrusion.” A licensed mold remediation professional  “confirmed active mold growth and elevated moisture content behind bathroom and shower walls.”

On April 7, the Pleasants filed a lawsuit against Grossman and his company, Coastal Community Builders. Grossman then fought for arbitration and a stay of legal actions. The court ruled against him.

John Belsher on a private jet

Attorney John Belsher accused of obstructing justice, regulators commence disciplinary action

Attorney John Belsher is suspected of obstructing justice in the ongoing federal investigation into corruption in SLO County, according to court records filed in 2025. Belsher allegedly worked with his partner to mislead the government regarding a bribe paid to a public official.

Belsher’s partner Ryan Petetit-Wright is in prison after he admitted conspiring with former SLO County Supervisor Adam Hill and others in a pay-to-play scheme. Belsher, Petetit-Wright and Hill conspired to obstruct justice, a practice the developers allegedly continued after Hill committed suicide, according to court records.

California bar investigators on Oct. 24 filed disciplinary charges against Belsher because his dishonest and self-serving actions damaged his clients, according to the State Bar of California.

Investigators accuse Belsher of making knowingly false representations to a client as part of a scheme to defraud. The notice of disciplinary charges includes allegations of corruption, dishonesty and breach of fiduciary duty.

His hearing is scheduled to begin on Feb. 18.

Legal battle erupts over plans to turn property donated for a park, into a trailer park

More than 30 years after Mary Gail Black donated the Rosa Butron de Canet Adobe to the City of San Luis Obispo for use as a park or recreational facility, the city struck a deal with a nonprofit seeking to create low-cost housing on the site. Smart Share Housing Solutions plans to place 20 tiny modular or trailer homes, ranging in size from 220 to 264 square feet, at the 466 Dana Street property to serve low and very low income people.

On April 3, attorney Saro Rizzo filed a suit that asks that the city’s approval of the project be set aside because the city lacked the authority to approve the low-cost housing project on the property.

City administrators then filed a demurrer to have the lawsuit thrown out because it is based on a “misreading of the grant deed.” San Luis Obispo Superior Court Judge Donald G. Umhofer did not agree.

“The demurrer is overruled,” according to the ruling. “The court finds the petition sufficiently alleges a dedication of the property with a restrictive covenant.”

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