California Mom May Face Jail Time for Selling Ceviche Through Facebook Group

A California mom may be headed to jail for selling homemade ceviche through Facebook.

An undercover investigator took time out of what was clearly his very busy day to conduct a sting operation against Mariza Reulas, a single mom, by ordering a batch of the seafood-filled dish through the group last December. From the Daily News:

Prosecutors said she violated state law by selling food prepared in a facility not subjected to inspections. Ruelas [sic] says she was just participating in a group called “209 Food Spot” which organized potlucks, recipe-sharing and occasional small sales among the members.

Reulas wasn’t the only member of the group to catch flack from the law about food swapping—around a dozen other members were cited for operating a food facility and engaging in business without a permit. But Reulas is the only one headed to trial, since she alone refused to accept a deal in which she would plead guilty to one of the charges, landing her on probation for three years.

“I don’t write the laws, I enforce them. And the legislature has felt that this is a crime,” San Joaquin County Deputy District Attorney Kelly McDaniel told KTXL-TV.

And Reulas is standing her ground that this particular law is bullshit, calling it a “a waste of time and resources.”

“It was just, like, unreal that they were saying that you could face up to a year in jail,”she told the station.

The DA also claimed that investigators sent a warning message to the group before filing charges, though Reulas denied on Facebook that that was the case.