BAKERSFIELD — Three women fresh out of the county jail found their way back in after being arrested for stealing a vehicle last weekend.
35-year-old Valerie Garcia, 27-year-old Helen Estrada and 44-year-old Stacy French, all of Bakersfield, were booked into the Kern County Jail for grand theft auto and possession of stolen vehicle.
According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the incident occurred on Sunday, April 26, when deputies were called out to an area along Lerdo Highway and Quality Road in regards to a vehicle being stolen from a farm labor contractor. The victim of the theft said they were approached by a person who requested to use a cell phone, and while speaking with that person, three female subjects stole their vehicle and fled east on Lerdo Highway.
The last thing farmworkers along Quality Road expected was to be victimized by three women stealing cars.
A short time later, deputies located the stolen vehicle abandoned in the area of Flightpath Way and Highway 65 in Bakersfield, and the three suspects nearby. All three were arrested for taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent. French was also charged with possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear in court for a previous offense. She had been arrested on February 18 for disorderly conduct – prostitution, and the next day for possession of drug paraphernalia and failure to appear in court.
Records show that Valerie Garcia had also been arrested just a few weeks prior, on February 4, and charged with petty theft. On March 4 of last year she was arrested for possession of controlled substances and drug paraphernalia, as well as possession of a stolen vehicle. She was also charged in October of 2013 with trespassing by driving on private property.
The youngest of the three, Helen Estrada, appears to be the most experienced criminal of the gang. In January she was arrested for multiple charges of receiving a stolen vehicle, petty theft, driving with a suspended license, possession of drug paraphernalia, and giving false information to an officer. Records show another stolen vehicle arrest on December 29, and petty theft, possession of drug paraphernalia, and driving on a suspended license on December 19. She had six additional arrests earlier in 2014 on suspended license and drug paraphernalia charges, with a burglary charge levied on May 20.
Earlier records show several arrests for Estrada in 2013, with charges including petty theft, burglary, possession of stolen property, resisting arrest, possession of concentrated cannabis, being under the influence of a controlled substance, and cruelty to a child, inflicting injury.
