Bakersfield police arrested 12 people Tuesday during a surveillance operation targeting scrap-metal thefts from railroad freight cars, after investigators watched multiple people break into four cars staged on the 2000 block of Potomac Avenue. Officers also used drones to track down several suspects who tried to run, and seized suspected drugs along with items believed to be connected to drug sales.
The Bakersfield Police Department announced the arrests Thursday, saying officers had taken 12 people into custody on suspicion of burglary, grand theft and drug sales, according to bakersfield.com. The Potomac Avenue site sits about a mile from the Sierra Recycling Center, a connection investigators have flagged as central to the theft pattern they were tracking. KBAK reported that the operation was coordinated with the San Joaquin Railroad and the recycling center itself.
Drones Chase Down Suspects Who Tried to Flee
Detectives said several of the people allegedly caught breaking into the freight cars attempted to run, and officers located them with the help of drones, according to KBAK. The operation drew on several specialized units within the department, including Vice, General Investigations, Organized Retail Crime, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and the Impact Unit, as reported by KGET 17 News.
Accounts of the arrests themselves differ slightly between outlets. Bakersfield.com reported that officers arrested the 12 people on suspicion of burglary, grand theft and drug sales, while KGET reported that the group was arrested for burglary and grand theft and also received trespassing citations. The department separately said it issued one trespassing citation as part of the operation.
Drug Seizures Also Reported, With Differing Details
Investigators also seized suspected drugs during the sweep, along with other items believed to be connected to drug sales. Here, too, the reporting diverges: bakersfield.com said police reported seizing 70 grams of suspected amphetamine, while the same report drawn from KGET described officers seizing more than 70 grams of suspected methamphetamine.
Police have tied the arrests to a broader pattern of scrap-metal theft along the San Joaquin Railroad and near the Sierra Recycling Center, which they estimate has caused $400,000 in losses over six months, per the account relayed by KGET. The figure reflects the police department's own estimate rather than an independently verified total.
Part of a Wider Surge in Freight-Train Theft
The Bakersfield case fits into a trend playing out across California and nationally. The New York Times reported that the United States saw more than 65,000 train thefts in 2024, a 40 percent jump from the year before, a figure cited by KGET. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has estimated that cargo thefts across the broader supply chain cost between $15 billion and $35 billion annually, according to the same KGET report.
Southern California has seen some of the most dramatic cases. Union Pacific told the Los Angeles Times that thefts targeting its trains in Los Angeles County had jumped 160 percent in a single year, prompting rail operators to add security personnel, lighting and more secure locks. Authorities told the paper that two organized fencing rings tied to railroad thefts had generated more than $18 million in stolen merchandise before a task force making over 700 arrests dismantled them.
Earlier this month, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said its Rural Crime Task Force arrested nine men on Oct. 16 in connection with an alleged organized cargo-theft operation targeting BNSF Railway trains, recovering more than $333,000 in stolen retail merchandise, according to FreightWaves. In a separate case the outlet reported, Colton police recovered roughly $54,000 in stolen Hot Wheels merchandise after a BNSF freight-train burglary and made one arrest.
Bakersfield itself has seen freight-train thefts before. KGET previously reported on an overnight heist downtown in which people filled bins with Amazon packages as a train moved, an operation that lasted three hours. The outlet also documented a separate attempted burglary near Comanche Drive and Edison Highway, where video showed boxes of merchandise left along the tracks, suspected of having been taken by thieves.
Legal Backdrop for Freight-Car Burglary Cases
Under California law, burglary already covers entering a railroad car or cargo container with intent to commit grand or petit larceny, according to bill text for AB 2769 published by the California Legislative Information website. Separately, the state's grand theft statute, Penal Code section 487, identifies grand theft as theft committed under a specific set of circumstances laid out in the code.
