El Cajon Guilty Plea, Alpine Smoke Shop Raid, and a Fruit Fly Quarantine Now Spanning 111 Square Miles
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A former Bible teacher at Christian Unified High School in El Cajon pleaded guilty Wednesday to five felony sex crime counts involving an underage girl. Kevin Conover, 50, entered the plea one day before his scheduled preliminary hearing. Investigators determined the abuse occurred between 2015 and 2019, beginning when the victim was seven years old. Conover was arrested in December 2025 and originally faced up to 111 years to life. Under the terms of the plea, he is scheduled to be sentenced July 31 to 20 years to life in state prison.
In Alpine, a multi-agency search warrant executed Thursday at Alpine Smoke and Vape, in the 2100 block of Arnold Way, turned up 526 pounds of Kratom products, 461 pounds of flavored nicotine and vape products, 25 grams of marijuana, 11 THC vape pens and marijuana cigarettes, and $340 in cash. Deputies from the Alpine Station Crime Suppression Team, the Lakeside Sheriff's Substation, the Sheriff's Marijuana Enforcement Team, and a County Code Enforcement officer conducted the operation following complaints of flavored tobacco sales to minors and alleged sales of marijuana and psilocybin products. One employee was briefly detained but no arrests have been made; the investigation is ongoing. Code enforcement also cited multiple building violations on the premises.
The Mexican fruit fly quarantine, first reported last week as centered on Spring Valley, has officially expanded to include Santee, El Cajon, La Mesa, and Lemon Grove, now covering approximately 111 square miles of East County. The quarantine boundary runs roughly from CA-67 to the north, Proctor Valley Road to the south, CA-125 to the west, and Riggs Road to the east — reaching close to Santee Lakes. The CDFA, USDA, and County Agricultural Commissioner are deploying sterile male flies across the zone and applying organic Spinosad treatment within 200 meters of detection sites.
The practical impact on home gardeners is immediate: residents within the quarantine zone must consume homegrown produce on-site and may not transport fruit off their property — not to neighbors, farmers markets, or family elsewhere in the county. The state pest hotline is 1-800-491-1899. Officials note that compliance from individual gardeners is material to whether the eradication program succeeds.
On the civic front, Santee's City Council voted at its June 24 meeting to place a temporary 1% general sales tax on the November 3 General Municipal Election ballot. Community confirmation of the referral has appeared on local social media consistent with an approved resolution, though official council minutes had not yet been posted as of Saturday morning. The city is expected to formalize the announcement through its official website in the coming days.