Man sentenced to 1 year in jail, probation after forcing woman to take pills causing miscarriage
A man who forced his pregnant girlfriend to take pills that led to her having a miscarriage was sentenced to one year in jail Wednesday.
Jagmeet Sandhu, 26, was also sentenced to three years probation after pleading no contest to involuntary manslaughter. His plea deal resulted in charges of first-degree murder, burglary, assault with a firearm, making threats to terrorize and inflicting corporal injury on a spouse being dismissed.
Neither the Kern County District Attorney’s Office nor Sandhu’s attorney responded to requests for comment.
Sandhu’s girlfriend was sleeping around 7:30 p.m. in December 2019, when she heard the door open. Her ex-boyfriend walked into the room wearing black and had a silver revolver, according to Bakersfield Police Department offense reports filed in Kern County Superior Court.
Sandhu then produced packets of two unidentified white pills, the offense reports stated.
“Take these pills or I’m going to kill you,” he said, according to a BPD probable cause statement filed in Kern County Superior Court.
The victim ingested the pills, because she told police she was fearful Sandhu was going to hurt her, according to the court documents.
“We are not having this baby,” he added, according to the offense reports.
A little while later, she began to vomit. After Sandhu left, the victim went to Mercy Hospital Southwest where a nurse said her baby didn’t have a heartbeat anymore, according to the offense reports.
Sandhu told police he comes from a very traditional Punjabi family, and that his family members were upset with him for impregnating his girlfriend, who he described as non-Indian, the BPD offense reports said. He added that inducing an abortion was the best option for them because they were recent college graduates and did not have a stable income, the court reports said.
Interstate 5 was shut down in both directions Wednes
day after a fire scorched nearly 4,500 acres near Castaic, according to state fire agencies.
Flames burned roughly 4,625 acres as of 6:09 p.m., according to a tweet from the Fire Integrated Real Time Intelligence System, which is run by the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station wrote on Twitter that 600 acres had burned as of 5:30 p.m. Wednesday. There are about 200 homes threatened, said LACFD Chief Eleni Pappas around 5:30 p.m. Anywhere from two to seven firefighters suffered heat-related injuries, though the extent of their injuries was not immediately known, Pappas added.
The cause of the fire is still unknown, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Route Fire began around noon Wednesday and spread to about 60 acres by the time Los Angeles County firefighters were dispatched to the scene, according to the LA County Fire Department on Twitter. Flames burned about 250 acres by 5:27 p.m. near Lake Hughes Road on northbound I-5, LACFD added.
Evacuations have been ordered for Paradise Mobile Home Park. The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station said evacuations were also ordered for structures south of Templin Highway along Upper Ridge Route Road. Supervisor Kathryn Barger tweeted Northlake Elementary was also being evacuated by Santa Clarita Valley deputies.
Kern County Sheriff’s Office deputies reported
one man was killed and another is in critical condition after a shooting Tuesday in the 14800 block of Lamberson Avenue in Lost Hills.
KCSO deputies arrested a suspect in the shooting at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in Wasco. Marco Antonio Aldaco Jr., 30, was taken into custody on suspicion of homicide, attempted homicide, and various weapons violations, according to a KCSO news release.
Deputies arrived at the scene around 11 p.m. Tuesday, and found the victims, one who was taken to the hospital and another who was pronounced dead at the scene.
On Wednesday, the Kern County coroner’s office identified the victim as Ulyses Aviles, 34, of Lost Hills.
Anyone with information can contact the Kern County Sheriff’s Office at 661-861-3110 or Secret Witness at 661-322-4040.
California Highway Patrol officers are holding a DUI
and driver’s license checkpoint in eastern Kern County from 7 p.m. Friday to 1 a.m. Saturday.
The checkpoint is expected to be held in an unincorporated area of eastern Kern County, which includes the communities of Tehachapi, Rosamond, Boron, Ridgecrest and Mojave.
“The sobriety checkpoint will be staffed by California Highway Patrol officers who are trained in the detection of alcohol and/ or drug impaired drivers,” according to a CHP news release. “The officers will be equipped with state of the art, hand-held breath-testing devices, which provide an accurate measure of blood alcohol concentrations of drivers suspected of being under the influence.”
CHP officials also reported that starting at 6:01 p.m. Friday, there will be a maximum enforcement period for officers, meaning all available resources will be out on patrol.
“In addition to assisting motorists and looking for traffic violations throughout the holiday weekend, CHP officers will be paying close attention to those who are suspected of driving under the influence (DUI) of drugs and/or alcohol,” according to a CHP news release.