{"id":158010,"date":"2026-01-31T13:31:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158010\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T13:31:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T13:31:12","slug":"convicted-art-swindler-put-up-fence-blocking-smc-beach-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/158010\/","title":{"rendered":"Convicted Art Swindler Put Up Fence Blocking SMC Beach: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

Luke Brugnara directed the installation of fencing now blocking a popular path to Thornton State Beach in Daly City, police said. Brugnara was convicted of an $11 million federal art fraud 11 years ago, according to the SF Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Property owner Donna Pope wants the fence removed. San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa said Pope reported a trespasser on Monday. Pope told the Chronicle her family has owned the land for nearly a century.<\/p>\n

“It’s just bizarre,” Pope told the SF Chronicle about the fence, which is on land she said her family has had for generations.<\/p>\n

Brugnara told the Chronicle the fence was legal and compliant, as the land recently changed to private ownership. He maintained the public can access the beach from the north side.<\/p>\n

At a Daly City Council meeting, a code enforcement officer issued a formal notice of violation to a property owner for an unpermitted fence, possibly encroaching on a public right-of-way and obstructing a decades-old public trail. <\/p>\n

The officer requested permits and survey data for review with public works and the fire department. <\/p>\n

The fence, which blocked the path this month and initially displayed a sign warning trespassers would be shot<\/a>, caused local controversy. <\/p>\n

Supervisor Canepa sent a letter to the California Coastal Commission, describing the fence as 8 feet tall, though the owner claims it is 6 feet.<\/p>\n

“It was egregious if he was the owner, but now we have a squatter,” Canepa told the SF Chronicle. “To have the audacity to squat and then, if you could imagine, build a fence is probably in my 19 years of politics the sickest thing I have ever seen.”<\/p>\n

County officials determined Monday that Brugnara had put up the fence weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Wealthy investor Brugnara has a long criminal history, including prison time for filing false tax returns and poaching steelhead trout. He also ordered $11 million in artwork without paying and escaped custody for six days while awaiting his self-represented trial, according to the SF Chronicle.<\/p>\n

Read the full story at the SF Chronicle<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Luke Brugnara directed the installation of fencing now blocking a popular path to Thornton State Beach in Daly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":158011,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[143,145,144],"class_list":{"0":"post-158010","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-oakland","9":"tag-oakland-headlines","10":"tag-oakland-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=158010"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/158010\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/158011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=158010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=158010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=158010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}