Two suspects were arrested after police discovered thousands of illegal fentanyl pills in San Bernardino County.

On Tuesday morning, Barstow Police pulled over a vehicle near the 15 Freeway and Barstow Road for a vehicle code violation at around 3:42 a.m.

Two male suspects were inside the car. While searching their vehicle, a police K9 alerted officers to the presence of illegal narcotics.

Police eventually found around 86,000 fentanyl pills inside, which weighed approximately 20 pounds. 

Both suspects, identified as Jesus Casteneda, 27, and Daniel Quevodo, 21, were taken into custody. Both men are residents of Phoenix, Arizona.

They were arrested for possession of a controlled substance for sales and transportation of a controlled substance for sales. They were booked at the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department Jail in Barstow.

The case remains under investigation. Anyone with additional information can call Sergeant Matthew Helms at 760-256-2211 or email mhelms@barstowca.org.

Anonymous tips can be provided to We-Tip at 1-800-782-7463 or online at wetip.com.

A study led by researchers at UCLA has found that due to voting eligibility expansions, more than 2 million people with felony convictions are now able to vote. 

Now, they are asking a critical question: Has anyone told them? 

According to data from The Sentencing Project analyzed by the coalition of researchers from UCLA, UC Irvine, UC Berkeley School of Law and Stanford University, 26 states and Washington, D.C., have expanded voting rights for those convicted of a felony since 1997. 

And while a felony conviction can mean the loss of voting rights, in many states, a person regains the right to vote after incarceration or supervision, the study said. 

“The system of mass incarceration and current and historical legacies of voter suppression have excluded millions of people,” said UCLA sociology professor Naomi Sugie. “The laws have changed, and people need to know that. This is about righting a wrong.” 

Sugie and other researchers analyzed voting obstacles during the November 2022 election and released their findings in this month’s issue of the Punishment and Society journal. Their research – conducted through interviews, focus groups and text message conversations among a multi-state sample – found that several factors pose an “access to justice issue among system-impacted people,” including a lack of understanding about the voting process, confusion about eligibility and perceived risks of voting while ineligible. 

One individual who was interviewed, a 40-year-old Hispanic woman from Texas named Delia, said that she felt the process was “very confusing on purpose.” 

“Every unit I went to, the narrative is, ‘You got a felony now, you’re never going to get a job, and you’re never going to vote,’ and so you believe that,” she told researchers. 

Another interviewee, a 41-year-old Chicano man from California named Julian, said that a lot of the times, when people come home from prison, they simply “don’t know about none of this crap” and are dissuaded from learning more for many reasons, like not being informed of their rights upon release, fear of harsh criminal penalties for simply trying to vote and overall government distrust. 

“They are just trying to be off parole, not being harassed based on that,” he said. “So, voting is just another foreign language to them, and there’s nobody educating them.” 

To help get voters to the ballot box, researchers found that community organizations – such as reentry and support networks, legal service providers, religious groups and others that work with impacted communities – made more of an effort on “cleaning up misconceptions” around voter eligibility through direct outreach. 

Researchers also concluded that limiting access to voting “limits access to justice.” 

“Disenfranchisement is a justice and equity issue…it especially takes a toll on communities disproportionately impacted by the criminal legal system, like those that are poor, racial and ethnic minorities,” Sugie said. “It’s important that our political systems make sure that their voices and concerns are heard, too.” 

Sugie and her fellow researchers are continuing to monitor voting barriers during this year’s election alongside Voter Outreach in Communities Experiencing System-Involvement (Project VOICES), which has engaged in large-scale community outreach programs.

California residents looking to check their voter eligibility can do so by visiting the California Voter Status information page.

More information can be found on the National Association of Secretaries of State Can I Vote? webpage.

In a bizarre twist to a grisly crime on a popular hiking trail in the San Gabriel Mountains where a 19-year-old man reportedly stabbed his father to death, the victim has been identified as a well-known, award-winning war photographer, photojournalist and professor at University of the Arts London.  

On Oct. 12, deputies with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to the area around Mt. Baldy Road near Stoddard Canyon Falls just before 3:30 p.m. where they discovered a man suffering from severe “trauma to his upper torso,” LASD officials said in a news release.  

The victim, now identified by friends as 61-year-old Paul Lowe, was declared dead at the scene.

Investigators soon learned that another man was seen driving away from the area at high speeds and ultimately crashed his car just a few miles down the road.  

Authorities initially detained the 19-year-old, now identified as Emir Lowe, according to LASD booking records, before arresting him on suspicion of murder.  

According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner, the 61-year-old’s cause of death was a stab wound to the neck.  

Now, friends of the beloved professor and renowned photojournalist, who covered the terrors of the Bosnian war and split his time between London and Sarajevo, are remembering him as a mentor and friend to many.  

Lara Jo Regan, a colleague of Lowe’s and a fellow photojournalist, told KTLA’s Rachel Menitoff that she first met him at the World Press Photo of the Year exhibition 24 years ago. 

“We had some great, interesting, stimulating and inspiring conversations about photography,” she recalled. “I just think it’s the effect he had on many people, both students and colleagues. He had a real generosity of spirit.”  

Regan said Lowe told her he was in Southern California to manage some family matters. They had planned to meet up, but after several days went by, she hadn’t heard from him.  

“I went on Facebook, and I was going to DM him to see what was up,” she explained. “Then, the first thing that came up was news of his passing posted on his agency’s website in New York. I was beyond shocked. I’m still kind of shocked.”  

Condolences and tributes have been pouring from others as people learn of the fateful news.  

“Paul was a courageous beloved comrade, and a deeply devoted father and husband,” the VII Foundation, a nonprofit devoted to visual journalism, said in a post to Instagram. “The loss is shocking and overwhelming, and our hearts go out to his wife and family.”  

Fellow artist and curator Elton Koritari wrote on Instagram about the privilege of working with Lowe and curating his last exhibition in Tirana, Albania. 

“Now, it’s a huge responsibility to still have in a show with ‘The Siege of Sarajevo,’ to carry on his work as a humanist, as a committed witness to history.”  

As for Regan, she believes his legacy will live on in his work.  

“I just want him to know that his spirit will live on through those pictures and many others that he’s taken,” she said.  

Lowe’s son, Emir, is scheduled to appear in a West Covina courtroom Tuesday.  

KTLA has reached out to authorities about a possible motive in the killing and is awaiting a response.