An inmate from Kern County working at a labor lock-up in the Southland is on the loose. Jessie Meza, 38, who was serving a 16-year sentence in Kern County on assault and gun charges, was discovered missing Tuesday morning when guards conducted a head count at Acton Conservation Camp in Los Angeles County. Acton is…… Read More
A manhunt is on for a Hanford man suspected of killing his wife and abducting their two young daughters. An Amber Alert was issued out of Kings County Wednesday morning for Jonathan Maldonado-Cruz, 23, who allegedly shot his wife to death Tuesday afternoon at their home on Fourth Place near Tenth Avenue and abducted the…… Read More
The Kings County Sheriff’s Office has issued an Amber Alert for two young girls reportedly taken by their father after their mother’s body was found in their Hanford home. Detectives were dispatched Tuesday afternoon to conduct a welfare check at a home on Fourth Place near Tenth Avenue where they found a woman shot to death. …… Read More
Election concerns have prompted the Kern County Board of Supervisors to make the county Registrar of Voters a separate entity from another county department. On Tuesday the board heard a report from the county’s finance and administration committee to separate the registrar’s position from the auditor-controller-clerk post which Aimee Espinoza, the current Auditor-Controller-Clerk and Registrar…… Read More
Democrat State Senator Melissa Hurtado of Fresno has introduced a measure aimed at tackling California’s water crisis. Senate Bill 224, called the Preventing Artificial Water Shortages Act, addresses the state’s ongoing water mismanagement crisis by confronting the Department of Water Resources reliance on outdated data and forecasting. Hurtado says the forecast data results in artificial…… Read More
A large-scale drug operation has been busted in Ridgecrest. Police responded early Monday morning to reports of gunfire in the 500 block of West Atkins Avenue to find an extensive drug operation involving several suspects and a family-run distribution network. Jaren Hoff, 20, was arrested after allegedly taking off from the scene. Celia Espinoza, 42,…… Read More
A 41-year-old Tehachapi youth pastor has been arrested after an alleged sexual assault of a teenager. Adrian Daugherty, who is a youth pastor at the Tehachapi Church of the Nazarene, was taken into custody on Monday on charges of committing lewd and lascivious acts with a minor. There’s no word if there are any other…… Read More
Sheriff’s deputies in Kern and Tulare Counties have announced the arrest of a man suspected of several copper wire thefts. Israel Barraza, 46, was arrested January 22 after allegedly stripping an irrigation pump in the Delano area and possessing the copper wire in his pickup truck. Damage to the pump was set at $25,000. Authorities…… Read More
A 36-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly leading officers on a short pursuit in a stolen car before retreating inside a northeast Bakersfield home. Danny White surrendered to police early Monday morning after reportedly hiding inside a bedroom at a house in the 3600 block of University Avenue where officers with a search warrant…… Read More
Police have identified two of three people who assaulted a 75-year-old man and a waitress outside a northeast Bakersfield restaurant. A 16-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy are suspected of assaulting the victims, including hitting them with a fire extinguisher, outside Honey I’m Home on Auburn Street on October 25, 2024. Both victims were hospitalized after…… Read More
