BAKERSFIELD – A Bakersfield felon was arrested last week for vehicle theft and suspicion of stealing nearly $100,000 worth of equipment from two Bakersfield oilfields.
Ryan Yorba, 32, was booked into the Bakersfield downtown jail on charges of possession of stolen property worth more than $950, possession of a stolen vehicle, possession of a vehicle/trailer with altered or removed identification number and a felon in possession of ammunition.
The Kern County Sheriff’s Office said that Yorba was arrested on Wednesday, April 22, when officers from the Bakersfield Police Department pulled him over for driving a stolen truck.
“While searching the stolen vehicle, deputies from the rural crime unit discovered a stolen welder worth approximately $38,000 in the bed of the truck,” said Kern County Sheriff’s Public Information Officer Ray Pruitt. “That prompted detectives to search two additional locations known to the suspect.”
While serving their warrant in the 6800 block of Fishback Avenue in Bakersfield, on April 24, detectives said they found another stolen truck.
Then while serving a second warrant in the in the 4100 block of Wood Lane in Bakersfield, deputies said they uncovered $75,000 in stolen items from three separate cases. They also located ammunition and a trailer with the vehicle identification removed.
According to available records, Yorba has a string of recent arrests, with vehicle theft-related arrests on April 6 and January 15 of this year, as well as April 3 and January 17 of last year. In addition, Yorba was arrested on January 12, 2014 and December 1, 2013 on various charges that included possession of controlled substances and a stolen vehicle. He has also been charged with several counts of parole violations.
But Yorba’s record goes much farther back. Records from 2006 show he was arrested for vehicle theft in May of that year. In January of 2008 he was charged again with vehicle theft, auto theft with a prior, possessing stolen property, conspiracy, and operating a vehicle chop shop. He was once again charged with grand theft in May of 2008.
Then in November of 2008, he was caught by police after having shot at five kids, aged 11 to 13, with a BB gun. Two of them required hospital treatment for their injuries, according to a story from BakersfieldNow.com. It was reported that Yorba was coming to the aid of another child at Curran Middle School who had been in an argument with the five victims. Yorba was accused of shooting at them near Howard’s Mini Mart on Belle Terrace, and was tracked down at his home later. He was arrested for assault with a weapon likely to cause great bodily injury, child endangerment, and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
