A 44-year-old Adelanto man is behind bars after deputies say he hid inside his ex-girlfriend's car trunk, then popped out with a knife while she was stopped at a red light in Victorville. The woman managed to drive to a gas station and get away before deputies, aided by a sheriff's helicopter, tracked the man down roughly a mile from where she escaped.
The assault was reported around 10:51 p.m. Wednesday at a gas station in the 15000 block of Nisqualli Road, according to Victor Valley News Group. Authorities say the victim had been driving when her ex-boyfriend, identified as Joshua Farr, emerged from the trunk of her vehicle while she was stopped at a traffic light and held a knife to her, according to an Instagram post from Victor Valley News Group
. She was able to reach the Nisqualli Road gas station and escape before Farr fled on foot.
Sheriff's Helicopter Helps Track Down Suspect
Farr reportedly ran about a mile from the gas station to his own parked vehicle, according to the outlet's reporting. San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department deputies located him inside that vehicle near Mojave Road and El Evado Road with help from the department's Aviation Division, the same report states. Deputies detained him without further incident before booking.
The Aviation Division, headquartered at San Bernardino International Airport, flies a fleet that includes Airbus H125 helicopters to provide aerial law enforcement support across roughly 20,000 square miles of the county, according to San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department records. The unit typically assists ground units with surveillance, search and rescue, and tactical tracking during active searches like this one.
Multiple Felony Charges Booked
Farr was booked into the High Desert Detention Center in Adelanto on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, false imprisonment, corporal injury to a spouse or cohabitant, and criminal threats, per the same account. The facility, located on Commerce Way, serves as San Bernardino County's primary High Desert jail and can house up to 2,100 pre-trial and sentenced inmates, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department.
Each of the charges Farr faces carries significant prison exposure under California law. Willfully inflicting corporal injury resulting in a traumatic condition on a former romantic partner is punishable by up to four years in state prison if prosecuted as a felony, according to Justia Law. Assault with a deadly weapon other than a firearm can bring a state prison term of two, three, or four years, or up to a year in county jail, under Penal Code Section 245(a)(1), according to FindLaw.
Criminal Threats and False Imprisonment Allegations Carry Strike Exposure
Criminal threats under Penal Code Section 422 is a wobbler offense that can bring up to four years in state prison and counts as a strike under California's Three Strikes law when filed as a felony, according to Kraut Law Group. Prosecutors would need to prove the victim was placed in sustained, reasonable fear to sustain that charge. False imprisonment accomplished through violence or menace is also punishable as a felony carrying up to three years in state prison, according to law firm summaries compiled by Shouse Law Group, while misdemeanor violations of that statute carry up to a year in county jail.
Part of a Broader Pattern in the High Desert
Statewide, the overall volume of domestic violence calls in California has dropped from 2001 levels, but the share of reported incidents involving aggravated assault and household objects or weapons has climbed, according to a 2025 report by the Public Policy Institute of California. Law enforcement agencies across the state responded to more than 160,000 domestic violence calls in 2023, per that same report.
This case adds to a string of recent High Desert domestic violence arrests. Just this week, Hoodline reported on a Barstow woman accused of trying to run down her ex. It remains unknown whether the San Bernardino County District Attorney's Office has filed formal charges against Farr, whether bail has been set, or whether a protective order was already in place before Wednesday's incident.
