On September 24, 2025, at approximately 7:00 a.m., Kern County Sheriff’s Office deputies assigned to the Tehachapi substation responded to a suspicious vehicle seen driving on Tehachapi Boulevard with two subjects in the cargo area of a box truck. Deputies located the box truck as it was driving near the intersection of Tehachapi Boulevard and Tucker Road. A traffic enforcement stop was conducted on the vehicle. The driver, Phillip Lomeli, age 27, was found to be driving on a suspended driver’s license. The front passenger, Veanessa Alfaro, age 32, was found to have a warrant. Deputies located Dion Rutherford, age 41, and Rosio Tapia, age 33, in the cargo area of the vehicle with multiple train cargo bags full of electronics. A further search of the vehicle yielded 19 unopened Apple iPhone boxes between the driver and passenger seats and an additional 170 unopened Apple iPhone boxes in the cargo area, resulting in the recovery of over $200,000.00 worth of electronic devices. All four subjects were determined to live in the Los Angeles area and were later booked into the Lerdo Justice Facility for multiple felonies.
