BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Three men convicted of murdering a man in Bakersfield then burying his body in Arizona were sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole, according to the Kern County District Attorney’s Office.
Garret Cole, Juan Toscano and Javier Ontiveros were sentenced in the murder of Taylor Poulin of Long Beach.
Toscano’s defense sought a motion for a new trial, which was denied Thursday, the DA’s office told 17 News.
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The three were tried together. A Kern County jury found the three guilty in August on several charges, including first-degree murder.
On Sept. 23, 2022, police responded to a report of “suspicious circumstances” in the 300 block of Real Road and found signs of foul play.
When Poulin and his friend Edwin Menendez entered the home on Real Road, Toscano and Cole drew guns, according to the prosecutor.
Poulin was shot and buried in a desert area in Arizona. Menendez managed to escape.
Cole, Ontiveros and two other men drove to Arizona to get rid of the body while Toscano stayed behind to clean up the scene, according to officials.
Menendez told investigators he and Poulin drove from the Los Angeles area to Bakersfield to buy Lean, a drug mixed with promethazine and codeine, a prosecutor said. He was reportedly held at gunpoint while Poulin was killed.
According to the prosecutor, the three defendants set up a drug deal in 2022 to rob Poulin and Menendez. Toscano reportedly said Poulin owed him $20,000.
The defendants’ defense attorneys argued Poulin planned to rob the three and was the first to pull a gun. They said he got shot while he was wrestling for the gun on the ground.
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