The North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara has been fined $10,000 for holding indoor services in violation of the Santa Clara County health order.
The county issued the church two $5,000 fines for violations during indoor morning and evening services on Sunday, according to a video statement released Monday by the church, which is located in De La Cruz Boulevard.
The fines follow “several complaints and several requests to have the church be in compliance,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Angela Alvarado told the Mercury News.
Cease-and-desist orders are taped on the entrance of the North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. (Randy Vazquez/Bay Area News Group)
On Friday, two days before the fines were issued, the county counsel’s office posted a cease-and-desist letter on the church’s door that said that North Valley Baptist was in violation of the health order for holding indoor services, failing to ensure mask wearing and social distancing indoors, singing during services and failing to submit a social distancing protocol.
“North Valley Baptist’s violations are clear, repeated and unacceptable, and they endanger the health and safety of our community,” County Counsel James Williams and Deputy County Counsel Jeremy Avila wrote in the letter.
North Valley Baptist Church declined to comment.
The letter based its account of the violations on anonymous complaints, North Valley Baptist’s own admissions and a review of the church’s website and social media.
In the video statement, North Valley Baptist Church pastor Jack Trieber disputed the social distancing charge, saying that every other pew was left empty and that parishioners stayed six feet apart. However, he acknowledged that not all parishioners wore masks during the service.
“We have the right to worship, and more than a right from the constitution, we have a right from God,” Trieber said.
Trieber says that the church shut down in March, but doesn’t specify when it resumed holding indoor services, saying instead that North Valley Baptist reopened because Santa Clara County was “not a hot spot.”
“We found out that there are not 5,000, or 2,500 people that have died in our area of 2.1 million,” Trieber said on Monday. “We’ve not had 1000 people perish, or 900 or 800 or 700 or 500. We’ve not had 400 people perish. We’ve not even had 300 people perish. And by the way, one life, we know that, is valuable. We’ve had to this day 224 people pass away; 90 plus were in rest homes.”
The virus is real, Trieber said, but “there’s not a pandemic here.”
He concluded: “I am willing to take a stand.”
Check back for updates.
