Local News in Brief : 5 Plead Not Guilty in Massive Theft of Oil
Five of six suspects accused of taking at least $500,000 worth of crude oil from a Southern California Gas Co. facility in Valencia pleaded not guilty Wednesday at arraignments in West Kern County Municipal Court.
Charged with 25 counts of grand theft each were John Stuart, 47, the owner of a Bakersfield oil firm; Charles Petrillose, 51, a Valencia oil broker; Jerry Dennis Hardiman, 31, a Lancaster truck driver; Michael Matlock, 45, a supervisor at the gas company’s Honor Rancho facility, and Henry R. Workman, 44, a gas company supervisor.
Kern County Muncipal Court Judge Philip McNutt ordered the men to appear at preliminary hearings on March 12. The arraignment of a sixth suspect, Kenneth Ward, 46, was postponed until Jan. 23.
In arrest warrants issued for three of the men Tuesday, all six were named as suspects in an elaborate scheme involving the alleged theft, transportation and resale of the gas company’s oil.
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