{"id":372027,"date":"2026-06-23T21:42:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:42:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372027\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T21:42:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T21:42:11","slug":"charges-filed-after-stolen-ambulance-chase-from-tulare-county-ends-in-bakersfield","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/372027\/","title":{"rendered":"Charges filed after stolen ambulance chase from Tulare County ends in Bakersfield"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward announced criminal charges against the<a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/suspected-stolen-ambulance-pursuit-from-tulare-county-ends-in-bakersfield-life-star-ambulance-kern-county-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"> man accused of leading law enforcement on a pursuit in a stolen ambulance that ended in Bakersfield.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The suspect was identified as 28-year-old Joe Prieto.<\/p>\n<p>RELATED: <a href=\"https:\/\/bakersfieldnow.com\/news\/local\/suspected-stolen-ambulance-pursuit-from-tulare-county-ends-in-bakersfield-life-star-ambulance-kern-county-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Stolen ambulance pursuit from Tulare County ends in Bakersfield<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The Tulare County DA\u2019s office said on June 17, 2026, Prieto, who had been transported by ambulance to the Tulare hospital, allegedly stole a different ambulance, forcing an EMT to jump out of the moving vehicle.<\/p>\n<p>The DA\u2019s Office said that while he tried to drive away, Prieto nearly collided with another ambulance and an EMT who tried to stop him. After a police pursuit on southbound Highway 99, Prieto crashed in Bakersfield and was taken into custody.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"A pursuit of a suspected stolen ambulance from Tulare County ended in Bakersfield Wednesday afternoon. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX\" class=\"ImageEmbed_image__qZBo_\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1781743089_835_b5a6df1e-a0c4-4be4-aca4-f2ffee8f3c34-StolenAmbulanceScene_frame_3862.jpeg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>A pursuit of a suspected stolen ambulance from Tulare County ended in Bakersfield Wednesday afternoon. PHOTO: KBAK\/KBFX<\/p>\n<p>Prieto is charged with carjacking, kidnapping, assault with a deadly weapon, fleeing a pursing peace officer, taking a vehicle without consent, and receiving stolen property.<\/p>\n<p>At his arraignment Monday afternoon, Prieto entered a not guilty plea and is being held in custody on no bail.<\/p>\n<p>He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing conference on June 29. If convicted, Prieto faces 11 years, 4 months in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK\/KBFX) \u2014 Tulare County District Attorney Tim Ward announced criminal charges against the man accused of&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372028,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-372027","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\/372027","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=372027"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372027\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}