Exxon oil well under Poets Park Ladera Ranch not fully plugged in July 2001 DMB Ladera rep forged report used old plugged depth from 1962 closing

I first posted articles about the two very old oil wells I underground in Ladera Ranch CA on July 25th 2026. In my continuing investigation, I have recently found that the supposed emergency plugging of the Exxon Oil well under Poets Park in July 2001 by DMB Ladera LLC was forged. Exxon oil well under Poets Park Ladera Ranch was improperly plugged in July 2001 by DMB Ladera LLC, a rep forged the report, he used old plugged depths of 1305' and 593' from 1962 closing of the Exxon oil well in their new July 2001 report and sent it to the California Division of Oil & Gas for approval. 

In 2001 the LA Times wrote multiple articles for promotion of Ladera Ranch; When Ladera Ranch, CA was launched by master developer Rancho Mission Viejo LLC and then DMB Ladera LLC at the turn of the millennium (grand opening in late 1999, with heavy expansion and sales phases continuing into 2001), its marketing campaign was highly distinct, Ladera Ranch was heavily advertised as one of the nation's first fully "wired" master-planned communities. Archived promotional strategies and advertising materials from 2001 focused heavily on two contrasting but complementary themes: nostalgic, small-town Americana and cutting-edge, futuristic internet connectivity. In 2001, when home internet was still largely dial-up, Ladera built its entire marketing framework around a private, high-speed community intranet called LaderaLife.com. The overarching theme of the 2001 marketing material was the concept of giving families "roots and wings." Executive and larger premium homes topped out in the $600,000 to $700,000 range. At the time in 2001, less than 2% of the entire Orange County luxury market had crossed the million-dollar threshold. If the old deep drilled oil wells discovered underground in early 2001 at Ladera Ranch had made news in the LA Times, home sales and contracts wold have evaporated and existing home owners would have been filing lawsuits, DMB Ladera LLC most likely would have gone bankrupt. DMB Ladera LLC kept their dirty little secret covered up for 25 years of the poorly re-capped oil wells, until now.

The exact location off all abandoned oil wells in California is found in Cal-Gen well finder by the oil wells API number. The oil wells location is given in Latitude and Longitude numbers, the well near Poets Park Ladera Ranch CA is 33°32'44.1"N  117°38'10.3"W, it is under the street by the sewer manhole cover, it is in the street and not under anyone's house like the media at the L A Times and CA Post published on Aug 30th, 2026, click on numbers for map.

MEDIA CORRECTION: The abandoned oil well near Poets Park in Ladera Ranch CA is NOT located under anyone's house as LA Times & CA Post reported Aug 30, 2026, it is in the street. Note, LA Times reporter Clara Harter and reporter Zain Khan the California Post it is not a good idea to falsely list a home owners address as the exact location for an abandoned oil well built in 1961, as being under their house. LA Times reporter Clara Harter and reporter Zain Khan at the California Post appear to be somewhat recent college graduates, they must have matriculated from the 'University of Mars', because they sure as hell don't know how to locate anything down here on earth!

VIDEO; FORGED REPORT LADERA RANCH CA POETS PARK OIL WELL NOT PROPERLY PLUGGED JULY 2001. DMB Ladera LLC drillers in July 2001 never got past an obstruction at 351' so they used the old plugging numbers of 1305' and 593' from closing the Exxon oil well in 1962 on their 2001 report. DMB Ladera LLC Violated California State Law Title 14 Sec 1723 by Short Plugging the Deep Drilled Exxon Oil Well Re-Abandonment at Poets Park in July 2001.

See this video above for the proper way to plug a deep drilled abandoned well (this one was 5,000' deep). The drillers for DMB Ladera LLC did not follow this correct procedure, they did not re-plugged all the way to the bottom and at several intervals up to the surface of the old Exxon oil well under Poets Park at Ladera Ranch CA, this Poets Park oil well is at risk. DMB Ladera drillers only plugged the Exxon oil well at 351 feet to the surface, way, way short of the total 8,365 ft deep well in July 2001! 

Re-abandonment of an oil well is the process of re-entering a previously plugged and abandoned wellbore to repair, it is dirty, messy and very noisy work, takes about a week to do one, like the ones mentioned in Ladera Ranch drilled here in 1921 and 1961, to reseal or upgrade its integrity. This is necessary when an older Zombie well's original cement plugs degrade or fail, allowing oil, gas, or toxic wastewater to leak, approximate min cost per well to re-plug and re-cap is about $180,000.

* Note media at LA Times Clara Harter and Zain Khan at California Post, a dry well (DH) is not a well void of all contents, you can't take a flashlight and look down the 8,000 foot dry hole and see the bottom, OMG. A "dry hole" (DH) in California—including the old one under Poets Park—does not mean absolutely nothing was in the borehole, "do a little research and prep work before you publish your conclusions Clara Harter and Zain Khan". In the oil and gas industry, a "dry hole" is a strict economic and regulatory term, not a literal description of an empty borehole. The California Geologic Energy Management Division (CalGEM, formerly DOGGR) classifies a well as a dry hole (DH) if it is incapable of producing oil or gas in sufficient quantities to justify commercial completion, they still leak.

The oil well near/under Poets Park Ladera Ranch CA at Agapanthus St was originally deep drilled down to 8,365 feet in 1961, about 1.5 miles, plugged and capped in January 1962. The plugging and capping of the Exxon oil well in 1962 was done at 1305' and 593' and within 50 feet of the surface to the top, the steel drilling casing was filled with mud/concrete and sealed. The 1962 figures of 1305' and 593' for plugging with cement of the Exxon oil well were reused in the DMB Ladera LLC report for the re-abandonment in July 2001 to the California Division of Oil & Gas, WTH?

Paul Frost engineer and rep for DOGGR was at Poets Park Ladera Ranch CA job site from 9:30 am to 10:30 am on July 19, 2001. Tom Walker an independent petroleum consultant and senior reservoir engineer in California was working as the rep for DMB Ladera Ranch and was overseeing the re-abandonment project on July 19, 2001. The exact same drill depths of plugging with mud/cement at 1305' and 593' of the Exxon oil well in the 1962 closing were used again in July 2001 when drillers could not get past a hard metal surface at 351'. There is no knowledge if the old plugs at 1305' and 593' in the old deep drilled Exxon oil well from 1962 are still there, most likely not.

In California, state well destruction standards require a well to be plugged from the bottom up to isolate different geological layers from over 1.5 miles underground. If the drilling crew working for DMB Ladera LLC could only place a plug at 351 feet, it means the remaining 8,014 feet of the borehole is left completely unplugged and open as steel casings from 1961 are known to deteriorate. 

Ladera Ranch CA the $100 million dollar master-planned community broke ground in August 1999. DMB Ladera LLC was the master developer of Ladera Ranch CA from 1998 to 2005 overseeing the site development and installation of utilities such as the electrical grid and drinking water and sewer systems.

I have no formal legal training, I am not an attorney, I am not a doctor, I am not an environmentalist,  I am not a scientist, I am not a wildcatter and the only connection I have to the oil and gas well biz is what I have seen on the Landman series with explanations by Billy Bob Thorntan, but I do have a real life Texas Landman helping me with the technical aspects of my investigation along with verifying my oil & gas well statements. 

The plugged depth figures of 1305' and 593' for the 1962 closing of the Exxon Mobil oil well under Poets Park Ladera Ranch where reused in the reports submitted during the re-abandonment of the same oil well in July 2001 by drillers hired by DMB Ladera LLC to the California Divison of Gas so that construction of the $100 million dollar project could continue, this was in violation of California State Law Title 14 Sec 1723 by Short Plugging the Deep Drilled Exxon Oil Well at Poets Park in July 2001.

My expertise is what I can do in researching the origins of the oil well permits and oil well drilling contracts of Ladera Ranch with a deep dive investigation into subjects like toxic wastewater from deep drilled abandoned Zombie oil wells that keeps pouring out gases and hydrocarbons out of the ground in south Orange County California. 

 

Sarasota Private Investigator Bill Warner, True Crime Stories, Bill Warner Investigations Sarasota Fl.