DALY CITY, Calif. (KGO) — The ABC7 Eyewitness News I-Team has learned that a felony case has been filed against the real estate investor who put up the controversial fence at Thornton State Beach in Daly City – two counts of felony threats, and one count of convicted felon in possession of a firearm. The I-Team’s Dan Noyes has been working on an extensive story with the owners of the property. They say that Luke Brugnara has taken advantage of tensions in the family that owns much of the land leading to Thornton State Beach. We’ve also learned that the transfer of one small slice he got “for free” may not be legal in the first place.
This six-acre property at Thornton State Beach has been in Pat Fraguglia’s family since 1931. She watched the fence go up last month without her family’s permission, blocking trails leading to the beach and causing a public uproar.
A hiker yelled, “It’s not f*****g private property and you know it.”
Even though Daly City took down the fence one week ago, Pat still doesn’t want to show her face for fear of being recognized.
I-TEAM EXCLUSIVE: Meet the man behind controversial Thornton State Beach fence in Daly City
Pat Fraguglia: “I feel awful. It’s horrible. It’s absolutely like a nightmare to me.”
Dan Noyes: “Why?”
Fraguglia: “Because, you know, you’re having somebody try to steal your property from you.”
During our several conversations, the real estate investor who put up that fence, Luke Brugnara, insisted he’s not trying to steal anything from anyone. “I know more than anybody knows about real estate, okay?” Brugnara said, “So, I’m just telling you right now, everything that’s done is done legally, everything that is done is done by the book. And if somebody wants to go litigate it, we’ll go litigate in California Superior Court. I got no problem.”
On that land, Pat Fraguglia’s family built horse stables, a garden supply store, and the Silver Saddle Restaurant and Bar. The businesses eventually shuttered; the buildings, taken down; and the land became a throughway for people heading to the beach. For the past fifty years, the family has been trying to sell the land, but the deals kept falling apart. Then, in December 2024, Luke Brugnara made a lowball offer of $2 million. Pat tells the I-Team she didn’t want to do business with a repeat felon.
RELATED: Thornton State Beach goers in Daly City upset after fence put up, blocking access
“This property was inherited by all of us that own it now,” Fraguglia said. “I think we’re being victimized by this guy, and he wants our property, and he wants it for nothing.”
Pat wouldn’t take Brugnara’s phone call, but her brother in North Carolina, Paul Nagy, has been speaking to him.
Paul Nagy: “He’s pugnacious. I think there’s-in a lot of ways he’s a hard-driving real estate developer.”
Noyes: “But did you feel bullied?”
Nagy: “No, no, that’s fantasy from my family.”
Court documents confirm that the property is divided into 24 ownership shares. Two sisters from a different family own five shares each. Bruce Norton now living in Utah has 10 shares. Each of his four cousins, all siblings, own one share each – including Pat Fraguglia and Paul Nagy. After the family rejected the $2 million offer, Paul Nagy gave Brugnara his 1/24th share with the hope of a payout if the property ever sells. Nagy knows he’s going against his family’s wishes.
“I’ve been ripped off for 50 years by the mismanagement of my relatives not selling the property,” Nagy said. “So, you know, I just got fed up. Well, you know, I’ve been ripped off. Let’s do something about it.”
Nagy signed this deed giving his 1/24th share not to Luke Brugnara, but to Olympic Way, an LLC formed by Brugnara’s girlfriend, Yitong Emily Wen. There appear to be several problems with that transaction.
Noyes: “An owner can’t sell their portion without the approval of the other owners. Is that correct?”
Luke Brugnara: “False. That’s false. Absolutely false.”
Noyes: “The owners are saying that.”
Brugnara: “The owners, I don’t- I don’t want to degrade the owners. They don’t know what they’re talking about.”
This court case involving the property in 2019 confirmed “the terms of any sale, 1) must be approved by a majority of the owners (and) 2) be approved by owner Bruce Norton” who has the majority share.
The I-Team reached Bruce Norton and members of his family by phone this week and they do not approve the sale of any part of the property to Luke Brugnara or his partner, Yitong Emily Wen. And there is another issue.
Paul Nagy tells usit appears that, without his knowledge, Luke Brugnara added this “Attachment A” to the deed, saying that in addition to Paul Nagy’s 1/24th share, he gave Brugnara rights to Carolyn Nagy’s 1/24th and James Nagy’s 1/24th after their deaths.
Noyes: “You didn’t say that?”
Nagy: “No, no, I never said that. I couldn’t, I couldn’t say that because I don’t– I have no standing there.”
Nagy also says someone apparently forged his initials on that attachment – it almost looks like “R-M,” but look at his actual initials from a different part of the document, clearly “P-N.”
San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa told Tuesday’s meeting, “Paul Nagy says his initials on the documents are a forgery.”
RELATED: Judge denies couple’s restraining order to keep up Thornton State Beach fence
Canepa sent a letter to the Assessor/Recorder’s Office this week questioning the deed’s legality, and they’ve forwarded the case to the District Attorney’s Office.
“They would interview us, they would look at, you know, the actual underlying documents,” Assistant Assessor/Recorder Jim Irizarry said. “And then they would pursue a criminal proceeding if it was appropriate.”
Nagy also tells the I-Team that Brugnara raised the idea early on – to surround the entire six-acre property with fence, not just his 1/24th share.
Noyes: “With the fence, that was the aim to kind of generate a showdown?”
Nagy: “Yeah, two ways. One is with the city and also probably the Coastal Commission, and then you have the owners who are just, you know, it’s like herding cats.”
Nagy says, with that fence, Brugnara hoped to pressure the other owners to sell. But, Brugnara faced backlash from the public because the fence blocked access to trails leading to Thornton State Beach.
Brugnara: “This is actually- right where that line is is our property. You’re actually standing on our property.”
Dog walker: “All right, you going to shoot me for it?”
Brugnara’s girlfriend admitted to police that she posted this sign saying, “No trespassing, owner armed with 9mm gun.” After one couple called 9-11 and accused Brugnara of saying, “If you get near the fence, I will shoot and kill you,” police stopped Wen’s car, found a Glock handgun on the front seat, Brugnara in the back seat, and arrested him for “felon in possession of a firearm.”
RELATED: Daly City officials remove controversial fence at Thornton State Beach
We asked Brugnara about his arrest.
Noyes: “There was that gun on the front seat, right?”
Brugnara: “Yeah, no, I’m not unaware of any of that. I have no knowledge of that at all.”
That incident caught the attention of a federal judge in Brugnara’s ongoing pandemic relief fraud case. He’s accused of lying about the size of his company, the number of employees, its payroll, and receiving $422-thousand. The judge revoked Brugnara’s bond and issued a bench warrant for his arrest.
Noyes: “There’s a bench warrant. Are you going to turn yourself in?”
Brugnara: “I’m, I’m, I’m not aware of any bench warrant. That’s the surprise, I guess, of the day.”
Dan Noyes first interviewed Brugnara in 2015; in jail for an $11 million art fraud case. He escaped from custody for six days and eventually got sentenced to seven years in prison.
Their brush with Luke Brugnara is too much for the owners of the land at Thornton State Beach, who are hoping to live out their lives peacefully
“And we’re all elderly, and we all are moderate income,” Pat Fraguglia said. “I mean, where are the laws protecting us. I feel victimized. You know, we all feel victimized. How could this happen?”
The I-Team reached out again to Brugnara, asking about the accusation he forged part of the deed document; he has not responded. He also now faces those new criminal charges related to incidents at Thornton State Beach. Meanwhile, his partner has filed a motion for contempt of court and sanctions against Daly City for taking down the fence. That hearing is in two weeks.
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