17-year-old struck and killed by train is identified
A teenager who died Sunday after being struck by a train in the area of Renfro Road and Santa Fe Way has been identified.
According to a report from the Kern County coroner’s office, 17-year-old Anthony Lee Terrill Jr. was killed at about 6:25 p.m.
BNSF investigators are looking into the incident, Bakersfield police said.
Anyone with information is asked to call BNSF Railway at 1-800-832-5452.
The suspected driver of a getaway vehicle following the shooting death of a 3-year-old has died while in custody in Kern County.
According to Kern County District Attorney spokesman Joseph Kinzel, Myeisha Dale died March 22. He added that when a defendant dies before trial or resolution of the case, the charges are dismissed. Dale was set to appear in court on Thursday.
Kinzel said the trial and charges against fellow defendants Tyrone Johnson and David Palms remain pending.
The three were arrested in February 2018 in connection with the death of 3-year-old Major Sutton, who was shot and killed after police allege the suspects kicked down the door of his family home before midnight on Nov. 10, 2017 and opened fire, killing him and injuring his pregnant mother and then-5-year-old brother.
Johnson and Palms are ac
cused of being the shooters, while Dale was suspected of driving the getaway vehicle, according to court documents.
The three were each facing one count of first-degree murder, plus gang charges, gun charges and two special circumstances that qualify them for the death penalty if found guilty. They’ve also been charged with two counts of attempted murder for the victims who survived the shooting.
Bakersfield police arrested a man during an auto theft investigation on Thursday in the 1900 block of South J Street.
According to a news release from the Bakersfield
Police Department, officers found three reportedly stolen vehicles in the area at about 6:30 p.m. They located Joseph Cruz, 34, who the BPD said was also on felony probation and in possession of firearms.
Cruz was arrested on suspicion of auto theft and also on suspicion of being a felon in possession of a firearm, the news release stated.
Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to call the Bakersfield Police Department at 327-7111.
Bakersfield police are requesting community assistance identifying a suspect in a residential burglary that occurred in southwest Bakersfield on March 30.
According to a news release from the Bakersfield Police Department, the incident happened at 5:40 a.m. in the 3200 block Hedgeland Court.
Police described the suspect as a light-complected man, between 18 and 28 years old, standing 5-foot-8 and weighing 165 pounds with a dark beard. He was wearing a baseball cap, multicolored shirt, long shorts, light colored tennis shoes and had prescription glasses, the news release stated.
Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Hatfield at 326-3541 or the
Bakersfield Police Department at 327-7111.
A former employee with the Kern County Law Library pleaded no contest to two counts of embezzlement of public funds and one count of grand theft by an employee on Thursday.
The charges stem from incidents between January 2014 and February 2020, when Annette Heath was the law librarian for the Kern County Law Library and embezzled public funds during her tenure, according to a news release from the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
The DA’s Office said that Heath overpaid herself $42,857 in wages, used $13,935 for personal purchases, and paid $7,867 for rental vehicles for family members, all of which was taken from Kern County Law Library funds.
According to the news release, terms of the plea include a maximum of one year in custody, a stipulated restitution amount of $64,660 and three years of felony probation.
Sentencing on the case is scheduled for July 30.
A man who was fatally shot in the 300 block of Sycamore Drive has been identified by the Kern County coroner’s office.
According to the coroner’s report, the body of 44-yearold Clay Edward McFall was discovered at 4:05 a.m. April 10. The time and date of the shooting are unknown, according to the coroner.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the incident as a homicide.
A 25-year-old man who died in a vehicle accident that occurred in Taft has been identified.
According to a Kern County coroner’s report, 25-year-old Jorge Luis Velasco Hernandez died when the vehicle he was driving went off the roadway and overturned at Gardner Field Road, one mile east of Gas Company Road. Hernandez was ejected from the vehicle and died at the scene of the accident, the report said.
The time and date of the incident are unknown. Hernandez was discovered at 6:57 p.m. Tuesday.
A 51-year-old Northern California native was identified as a victim in a fatal vehicle rollover accident that occurred just south of Bakersfield on Monday.
Angelena Marie Huffman, of Oroville, was killed when a vehicle she was a passenger in lost control and rolled over on Interstate 5, south of Highway 119, according to a news release from the Kern County coroner’s office.
The incident occurred at 8:07 a.m. and Huffman died at the scene, according to the coroner.