Amid questions of fitness to stand trial, justice is delayed.

For decades, Ana and Nicolas Ruvalcaba grew hundreds of types of flowers on their Royal Oaks farm, Ruvalcaba Nursery. They were known for colorful bouquets.

But a much darker story emerged in May 2023, when county officials and prosecutors said they discovered that the Ruvalcabas housed some 270 people in substandard conditions, with tenants living in modified greenhouses without windows, plus dozens of “shack-like structures” built into a hillside starting in 2007.

“These structures were not built anywhere near the standards required by the building and fire codes, and lacked the most basic necessities such as heating, ventilation and windows,” according to court documents. “Units were filled with mold and constantly had rodent and other pest infestations.”

Both Ana and Nicolas were charged with felony offenses and civil violations in 2023. A group of tenants followed up with a lawsuit filed on their behalf by California Rural Legal Assistance.

Now, nearly three years later, the criminal and civil cases are all stalled as Nicolas Ruvalcaba faces a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease. His attorneys are arguing that his condition makes him incompetent to testify at trial, while prosecutors have expressed skepticism.

So too has Monterey County Superior Court Judge Mark Hood, who on Thursday, Feb. 19, said he thought the Ruvalcabas and their attorneys were malingering.

“The court is very concerned that this court is being played,” Hood said.

Hood and defense attorney William Pernik had a brief, snippy exchange. Pernik said, “We can’t have a system of justice if every time I report something I see there is an accusation of malingering.” Hood retorted with a statistic and said he had only raised the question of malingering three times in his 17 years on the bench.

There are a lot of procedural steps in any felony case, and this one is no exception. The prosecution agreed it would be beneficial to get a third-party review and on Feb. 26, Pernik is expected to present the court with a list of three Spanish-speaking psychologists who can evaluate Nicolas Ruvalcaba’s condition and his ability to stand trial.

Meanwhile, the civil lawsuit filed by ex-tenants is stayed, pending an outcome in the criminal case. Same goes for the District Attorney’s civil case, which alleges unfair business practices.

Prosecutors allege the Ruvalcabas made millions of dollars on their illegal lodging, which was rented out to low-wage immigrant workers. In the criminal matter, they are charged with multiple felonies for filing false income tax returns and false imprisonment of their tenants, as well as a series of misdemeanor code violations and failure to provide workers comp.

In their lawsuit, dozens of former tenants claim that the Ruvalcabas threatened them with deportation or calls to the sheriff and instructed them never to list their physical address as a residential address even on school or doctor’s forms. “Defendants engaged in outrageous acts of intimidation and coercion to ensure their vulnerable tenants remained silent,” according to the lawsuit.

In a separate legal proceeding, Ruvalcaba’s sister, Herminia Ruvalcaba De Jimenez, and son, Felipe Ruvalcaba, filed in February 2025 for conservatorship, arguing that “his memory is severely impaired.” Last May, a judge granted a temporary conservatorship, allowing the family to make decisions on his behalf; that temporary conservatorship was extended, then extended again, and is now set to be reviewed again in court on April 15.

Undoubtedly, the Ruvalcaba family is suffering now too – a long-time family business, even if it is proven that it was built partly on illegal exploitation, has unraveled and the family patriarch has dementia (although to what degree remains disputed publicly). Nicolas Ruvalcaba, who appeared in court walking with the assistance of a cane on Feb. 19, deserves a chance to have a fair trial and mount a defense, like any defendant.

But the dozens of people who say they once paid unfairly inflated rent and unfairly inflated utilities to live in unacceptably dangerous makeshift quarters deserve justice, too.

SARA RUBIN is the Weekly’s editor. Reach her at sara@montereycountynow.com or follow her at @sarahayleyrubin.bsky.social.