{"id":338086,"date":"2026-05-29T21:04:57","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:04:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338086\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T21:04:57","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T21:04:57","slug":"2-sentenced-to-18-years-for-transporting-50-pounds-of-meth-on-i-5-near-lebec-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/338086\/","title":{"rendered":"2 sentenced to 18 years for transporting 50 pounds of meth on I-5 near Lebec: Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Two men convicted in connection with about 50 pounds of methamphetamine found during a traffic stop on Interstate 5 near Lebec in January were sentenced to 18 years each in prison on Thursday, court records show.<\/p>\n

PREVIOUS REPORTING: Two convicted after deputies find 50 pounds of meth in I-5 traffic stop near Lebec: DA<\/a><\/p>\n

David Mendoza and Ismael Gonzalez Jr. were in court on May 28 for sentencing, according to Kern County court records.<\/p>\n

Both men were convicted on April 27, 2026, of one count of possession for sale of a controlled substance, one count of transportation for sale of a controlled substance, and one count of conspiracy to commit a crime. Jurors also found true that the substance the men possessed contained methamphetamine and that the amount was more than 20 kilograms.<\/p>\n

\"David<\/p>\n

David Mendoza, left, and Ismael Gonzalez Jr., right, were both found guilty on several charges related to the transportation of 50 pounds of methamphetamine on the I-5 near Lebec. Photo: Kern County District Attorney.<\/p>\n

The case stems from a Jan. 5, 2026, traffic stop at about 4 p.m. on southbound Interstate 5 near Lebec. Deputies said they pulled over the vehicle after seeing the driver commit several vehicle code violations, including illegal window tint, an illegal lane change and an invalid license plate.<\/p>\n

Deputies contacted the driver, Mendoza, and the passenger, Gonzalez, before searching the vehicle, authorities said. Deputies found and seized approximately 50 pounds of methamphetamine.<\/p>\n

Comment with Bubbles<\/p>\n

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT<\/p>\n

At the time of the conviction, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer stated, \u201cIllegal substances are often catalysts for severe violence and devastation within our communities. Holding accountable those who distribute and transport them, especially in such large quantities, is a critical step toward reducing that damage. The scale of drugs involved in this case is significant and under the law, warrants substantial penalties.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Two men convicted in connection with about 50 pounds of methamphetamine found during a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-338086","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\/338086","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=338086"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338086\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}