TAFT — Three people, including a wanted fugitive, were arrested during a routine probation search last Friday in the city of Taft, west of Bakersfield in Kern County. Ioelu Laulusa, 34, and 28-year-old Joe Brian Barraza were booked into the Taft City Jail.
Laulusa, who had recently been featured in Taft’s Most Wanted, was charged on outstanding warrants for domestic violence, and for violation of a court order, while Barraza faces charges of possession of a controlled substance and possession for sale, possession of a stolen firearm, two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm, 99 counts of being a felon in possession of ammunition and five counts of possessing unlawful drug paraphernalia.
Cecilia Peters, 29, was also arrested for possessing unlawful paraphernalia, but was released on a promise to appear. According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, the trio was taken into custody on Friday, July 17, at around 2 p.m.
That’s when deputies conducting the probation search at Barraza’s residence in the 400 block of Hillard Street in Taft located a stolen 9 mm handgun, a .22 caliber pistol, 100 live rounds of ammunition, three ounces of suspected methamphetamine, prescription pills, glass methamphetamine smoking pipes, around $6,000 cash, and other evidence of drug sales.
