BAKERSFIELD— A pair thieves suspected of being in connection with a string of battery thefts in a rural area just outside Bakersfield California were arrested on Thursday.
Roberto Lara De Jesus, 20, and 20-year-old Jonathan Ortiz-Leyva were booked into the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Central Receiving Facility.
De Jesus on charges of possession of stolen property, grand theft conspiracy, and Ortiz-Leyva possession of stolen property, grand theft, conspiracy and possession of drug paraphernalia.
Ortiz-Leyva is being held on $32,500 bail.
According to officials, the men were arrested as part of sting operation which was conducted by the Kern County Sheriff’s Office Rural Crime Investigation Unit, who was investigating a sudden increase of battery thefts in the farmlands near Lamont, CA.
The sheriff’s office baited a trap by placing two large batteries in a field under electronic surveillance, which on March 20, were stolen from their location.
“Using the surveillance footage investigators initiated a traffic stop on a vehicle driven by the suspects,” sheriff’s spokesperson Ray Pruitt said. “During that stop, the driver and his passenger were found to be in possession of the stolen batteries and admitted to taking them without permission.”
Investigators also said that they found a glass smoking pipe on passenger, Ortiz-Leyva, which has hidden inside one of his shoes.
The value of both batteries were approximately $1,200.
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Bakersfield Now: 2 arrested in thefts of batteries from farming areas
