Aaron Youngblood will spend less than a year in jail under a plea bargain reached Monday that will lead to the dismissal of 14 of 15 charges against him.
He pleaded no contest to a charge of possession of drugs while armed with a loaded weapon. In exchange for the plea, the prosecutor agreed to the sentence of less than a year.
The case was prosecuted by the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office to avoid even the appearance of conflict of interest with the Kern County District Attorney’s office. Youngblood’s father is Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood.
It’s the third time the 28-year-old Youngblood has avoided prison in a felony case.
In addition to the stipulated sentence, more than a dozen other charges against Youngblood were dismissed Monday. They included 10 felonies and four misdemeanors that alleged possession of drugs for sale, receiving stolen property, possession of an assault rifle and carrying a concealed gun.
Youngblood was alone and sleeping in his truck because he had nowhere else to go, but was far from broke when he was arrested Easter Sunday, according to court documents.
Bakersfield Police originally approached him because he was sleeping in the truck, but found a trove of drugs, weapons, cash and other stolen property when they searched the vehicle, reports say.
That search led to a search of his mother’s house, where officers recovered more stolen guns, a stolen sheriff’s Taser and night stick, televisions, computers, smart phones, an iPad, and a half dozen different kinds of drugs.
Court documents take more than 40 pages to list the items seized from the searches.
Investigators believe Youngblood sold drugs, and traded drugs for property stolen by other people, according to reports.
They say some was stolen by the step-son of a sheriff’s deputy and traded to Youngblood for drugs. Some was stolen from a parked sheriff’s car.
That search also led to mauling of his mother by a police dog and to the threat of a huge lawsuit against the city by the woman, who is the sheriff’s estranged wife.
It was his sixth local criminal case. His record includes three prior misdemeanor cases and two prior felony gun and drug cases .
One felony case was dismissed by prosecutors, and a jury found him not guilty of the other one.
