BAKERSFIELD — Police said that they have arrested a 55-year-old man in connection with a bomb threat that caused panic at a local farm in Bakersfield last Friday.
Bakersfield resident Dwaine Powell was booked into the Kern County Jail for making a false bomb report.
According to the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, Powell was determined to be the prime suspect during a follow up investigation on a reported bomb threat at Bolthouse Farms at 7200 E. Brundage Avenue in northeast Bakersfield on February 5.
Approximately 1,300 employees were evacuated around 4 p.m. on that day after the Bakersfield Police Department received a call saying three explosives had been planted in the farm’s complex.
Officials said that employees were allowed to return at around 7:30 p.m. to claim their belongings, but were only allowed in after small areas in the facility were deemed to be clear.
“Detectives from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office immediately began an investigation,” said Public Information Officer Ray Pruitt, “and on Saturday, February 6, served a search warrant at the suspect’s residence in the 5100 block of La Pinta Maria Drive, where he was taken into custody without incident. ”
Bolthouse Farms sells a line of fresh juice beverages and according to the business research company, is one of the United States’ leading producers of carrots
According to the Kern County Superior Court website, Powell has a lengthy criminal record, including charges of petty theft, fraud, illegal narcotics possession and accessory to a second degree robbery in 2009, which he was sentenced to 270 days in jail and three years of probation.
