BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — A Kern County jury has found the man who set a car on fire in McFarland guilty of arson and automobile insurance fraud.
The District Attorney’s Office said Daniel Montes was convicted after he drove a Jeep Gladiator from the Hard Rock Casino to a rural area near McFarland in December 2025, where he removed the rims from the car before setting it on fire.
The DA said the crime was discovered when Montes called his girlfriend — who was an inmate at the Kern County Jail — telling her he had a job that would pay him enough to pay for her bail…