Man found guilty of abusing partner, killing her dog
A Kern County jury on Wednesday found a man guilty of inflicting spousal abuse, animal cruelty and violating a court order after he strangled his romantic partner and killed her dog.
On Oct. 7, Brandon Artis Swan, 40, argued with his partner, shoved her to the floor and tried to strangle her. The next day, Swan was at the woman’s home and told her that her dog was dying.
Rosie the dog had a slit in her neck and bled to death. Swan could be heard laughing while the woman held her dying dog. The woman had three active restraining orders against Swan.
A pre-preliminary hearing for an Arvin High School
teacher charged with sex crimes with a minor has been continued until March 28.
Michael Joseph Parra, 44, is charged with four counts of oral sex with a person under the age of 18 and three counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, according to Kern County Superior Court records.
At a hearing held Wednesday in the court’s Lamont branch, Parra’s attorney requested the continuance.
Parra was a manufacturing teacher at Arvin High since 2021. According to his LinkedIn page, Parra also used to teach architectural engineering and drafting at Foothill High School for five years.
Parra was arrested Nov. 15 at Arvin High after the Arvin Police Department interviewed him and the alleged victim. Parra is being held on $75,000 bail.
The Kern County Coroner’s Office on Thursday released
the name of the woman who was the passenger in a car crash on Lincoln Avenue, west of Yosemite Drive in Bakersfield, who later died in a hospital on Sept. 2.
Renee Anette Stansbury, 38, of Bakersfield died at Kern Medical. The coroner determined she suffered blunt force chest trauma in the accident.
Kern County District Attorney investigators found a
tractor and trailer stolen from Home Depot along with a dirt bike and drugs after a search at a home on Pearl Street on Wednesday, according to a DA’s news release.
Gilberto Valtierra, 38, of Bakersfield was arrested on suspicion of possession of stolen property and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of sale. The equipment was worth more than $35,000.
A man died in a crash on Tehachapi Willow Springs
Road around 7 a.m. Thursday after a head-on collision with another car, according to the California Highway Patrol.
The man who died was not identified by CHP. The driver of the other vehicle, Jamie Purpus, 37, of Tehachapi and a 17-year-old passenger, did not have any injuries.
The Kern County Coroner’s Office on Thursday released
the name of a man found following a solo vehicle crash on Messite Road, 1.2 miles east of Tanganda Road near Tehachapi around noon Saturday as Patrick Wayne Verhagen, 66, of Tehachapi.
The time and day of the crash are unknown and the coroner will determine the cause and manner of death.