Westside Crip gang member wanted by BPD and the FBI, arrested

One of two fugitive Westside Crip gang members was arrested on Tuesday evening.

According Bakersfield Police Sergeant Brian Holcombe, Tommie Thomas, was arrested following a traffic stop in southwest Bakersfield.

Holcombe said BPD’s Special Enforcement Unit and the FBI Task Force have been working together to apprehend Thomas who had been on the run since December 2017. On Thursday shortly after 5 p.m. BPD officers made the traffic stop on the 3400 block of Futura Rose Ave. Officers located Tommie Thomas and documented Westside Crip gang member, Johnathan Knight, inside the vehicle.  

Thomas was wanted for two outstanding warrants. He faces two charges in Kern County, one for first-degree burglary and another for participating in a criminal street gang.

The second warrant was for charges he faces in a Federal indictment.

Knight was arrested for a parole violation and resisting arrest. Holcombe said he was taken into custody using minor use of force.  

Both men were targets in BPD’s gang sweep back on December 12, 2017. The sweep was part of a larger operation called "Operation Blind Mice", which resulted in the arrest of more than 35 Bakersfield gang members and associates of the West Side Crips since the investigation began in March 2017.

In a December press conference, BPD’s Chief Lyle Martin said the department launched the inter-agency operation with the intention of getting more information about five-year-old Kason Guyton's murder. 

Guyton was shot and killed in February 2017 after suspect(s) opened fire on the car he was riding inside of. His 7-year-old brother was also hit but suffered non-life threatening injuries.