San Diego Reader

Sargent Ranch LLC, a large plot of land near Gilroy, filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy this week in San Diego Bankruptcy court. It is 85 percent owned by Wayne and Marci Pierce of La Jolla. Sargent has long had problems. Environmentalists and local politicians objected to the planned housing development at Sargent, just as many citizens have objected to Gilroy, once the nation's garlic capital, becoming a residential location. According to information dug up by the Reader's Matt Potter, developer Jack Roddy of Antioch in 2005 charged that Pierce had taken money from another development Roddy and Pierce were involved in, Roddy Ranch, to prop up Sargent. At the time, Pierce vehemently denied the charges.