BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Bakersfield police said on Jan. 20, 2026, two suspects were arrested during a retail theft blitz operation on Columbus Street, who are accused of a combined previous 32 theft incidents.<\/p>\n
The department’s Organized Retail Theft (ORT) unit arrested Christopher Bleakley, 24, and Cole Hernandez, 30, in the 1600 block of Columbus Street.<\/p>\n
Officials said the ORT unit recently investigated Bleakley and Hernandez, accused of two serial retail theft incidents that targeted multiple retailers, including Target, DD\u2019S Discount, and Lowe\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Bleakly is allegedly connected to 18 separate theft incidents resulting in a total loss of $12,925.71 to local retailers. He was booked into the Kern County Jail on multiple charges, including grand theft, brandishing a weapon, possession of a narcotic, shoplifting, robbery and resisting arrest.<\/p>\n
Hernandez is allegedly tied to 14 separate theft incidents, resulting in a total loss of $6,365.05 to local retailers. He was booked into the Kern County Jail on multiple charges, including grand theft, fraud\/identity theft, organized retail theft, conspiracy, and possession of a controlled substance.<\/p>\n
BPD said that since the ORT unit’s inception in 2023, they have partnered with local retail locations to target organized retail theft in Bakersfield. <\/p>\n
Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n
BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n
Business owners interested in learning more about theft prevention and partnering with BPD\u2019s ORT unit can call the Community Relations Unit at (661) 326-3053.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif.(KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Bakersfield police said on Jan. 20, 2026, two suspects were arrested during a retail theft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-155644","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}