A man took medical equipment during a burglary at a dental office in the 1800 block of 26th Street, Bakersfield police said. The break-in happened just before 9 p.m. on Oct. 30; the man ran away after taking the equipment.
Police described the suspect as a man in his 20s with a thin build, last seen wearing a light-colored hooded sweatshirt, according to KGET. The department released an image and is seeking information about the case. Anyone with information is asked to call the Bakersfield Police Department at 661-327-7111 or Detective J. King directly at 661-326-3907.
A Growing List of Medical-Office Break-Ins
A separate case involved Teeth and Gums Dental in the 4000 block of Panama Lane. The burglary occurred Aug. 2, when the suspect forced entry through a glass door, according to KGET 17 News and a report from kget.com. That suspect was described as a heavyset male wearing a white tank top, shorts and Nike sandals. Anyone with information was asked to contact Detective K. Guinn at 661-326-3953 or the police department's main line.
Police have not said whether the two incidents are connected, and nothing in the record establishes a wider pattern of dental-office burglaries across the city. Still, the cases add to a string of break-ins at local medical practices that investigators have had to piece together one image and one tip line at a time.
What citywide crime figures show
KGET reported that Bakersfield Police Department data put the city’s major property crime rate at 23 per 1,000 residents in 2024, down from 40 in 2022 and 33 in 2023. Those citywide figures do not establish a trend in dental-office burglaries or answer whether commercial burglary reports, including those involving medical or dental offices, changed over that period, according to KGET 17 News.
An Earlier Arrest Shows How Fast These Cases Can Move
Not every case stays unsolved for long. In March 2024, officers responded to a burglary in progress at 11:32 p.m. in the 2200 block of E Street, according to a report from bakersfieldnow.com. That call led to the arrest of 23-year-old Robert Murphy, who police said was taken into custody on charges of burglary and resisting arrest after what the outlet described as a rapid response to an optometry office break-in downtown.
No such resolution has emerged yet for the Oct. 30 dental office burglary. For now, police are relying on the public to help put a name to the face in the image they've released, hoping a tip leads them to the man in the light-colored hoodie before he strikes again.
