{"id":171515,"date":"2026-02-10T06:29:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:29:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171515\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T06:29:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T06:29:32","slug":"retail-theft-sting-on-colony-street-nets-barcode-swapping-suspect-seize-gun-and-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/171515\/","title":{"rendered":"Retail theft sting on Colony Street nets barcode swapping suspect, seize gun and drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 34-year-old man was arrested after a retail theft enforcement operation found that he was allegedly replacing a price tag or barcode of an expensive item with a cheaper one to pay a lower price. It also led to the discovery of a gun and narcotics.<\/p>\n

The Bakersfield Police Department said on Friday, February 6th, 2026, detectives assigned to the Organized Retail Crime unit conducted a proactive retail theft enforcement operation in the 6200 block of Colony Street.<\/p>\n

Police said during the operation, 34-year-old Ruben Perez was contacted after engaging in ticket-switching at a local retail business.<\/p>\n

Ticket-switching is a fraudulent, illegal retail theft technique where someone replaces the price tag or barcode of an expensive item with a cheaper one to pay a lower price. Common at self-checkout, this fraud includes swapping tags, using custom barcodes, or placing low-cost stickers over high-cost items.<\/p>\n

Police said officers detained Perez, which led to the discovery of a loaded handgun and narcotics consistent with possession for sale.<\/p>\n

\"PHOTO:<\/p>\n

Perez was arrested and booked into Lerdo Jail on charges including felon in possession of a firearm, felon in possession of ammunition, theft with prior convictions, and sale of a controlled substance. Perez\u2019s vehicle was also seized and impounded as part of the investigation.<\/p>\n

Perez has prior convictions for illegal firearm possession and theft-related offenses. Due to his criminal history, Perez qualifies for Proposition 36 sentencing enhancements.<\/p>\n

In a release, it said, \u201cThis arrest highlights the importance of proactive retail theft enforcement and its role in identifying individuals involved in broader criminal activity that poses a threat to public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 A 34-year-old man was arrested after a retail theft enforcement operation found that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":171516,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-171515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171515","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=171515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171515\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/171516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}