Jaramillo

Appellant Anthony Jaramillo, a small business owner operating under the name of Radar Water Geophysics, entered into a written contract with David Deuling, a landowner in Anza, California, to provide a computer profile of subsurface conditions to locate groundwater on Deuling’s property (the Anza parcel). Jaramillo, who is not a licensed geophysicist, has never studied geophysics and was not working under a licensed geophysicist, advertised his business on a Web site titled “Radar Water Geophysics,” which represented that he specialized in “acquifer location” and used “electronic techniques for analysis of groundwater resources” to “identify the aquifer’s geologic characteristics . . . .”

Respondent Board for Geologists and Geophysicists of the State of California Department of Consumer Affairs (the Board) cited Jaramillo under Business and Professions Code section 7832 for practicing or offering to practice geophysics for others in violation of section 7872, subdivision (a) (hereafter section 7872(a)), and ordered him to pay a $2,500 fine. Following an evidentiary hearing, the administrative law judge (the ALJ) found that Jaramillo was practicing geophysics without a…