Two Plead Guilty in Milk Case Involving Venice Market

A Ventura County farmer and a woman who volunteered at the farm's stands at area farmers markets each pleaded guilty today to misdemeanor charges involving a case filed last year by Los Angeles County prosecutors over the production and sale of goat milk and other items.

Sharon Ann Palmer, who owned Healthy Family Farms in Santa Paula, and the business each pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor count of selling milk that was produced or handled in or by a dairy farm in an unsanitary condition, according to Deputy District Attorney James Evans.

Palmer, 52, and her company were each sentenced to three years probation. Palmer also was ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and to pay a $1,300 fine. Eugenie Victoria Bloch -- who volunteered at Healthy Family Farms' farmers' market stands in Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties -- pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of selling unlabeled or improperly labeled food, according to the District Attorney's Office.

The 59-year-old Bloch was sentenced to two years probation, according to the District Attorney's Office. The case is still pending against a third defendant, James Cecil Stewart, 65, who ran the Venice market Rawesome. Stewart is in custody in Ventura County awaiting trial in a separate case, Evans said.