Kern County sheriff’s deputy arrested in connection with domestic violence incident

A Kern County sheriff’s deputy was arrested Thursday on suspicion of spousal battery and false imprisonment, authorities said.

The Kern County Sheriff’s Office released few details about the domestic violence incident, saying only that it occurred Wednesday and involved Deputy Lawrence Thatcher.

Thatcher, an 11-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, was taken into custody, and officials said he will be booked into Central Receiving Facility.

He was placed on administrative leave, authorities said.

His father, who is also named Lawrence Thatcher and was a Kern County sheriff’s deputy, and two other deputies were awarded in 2003 by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children for their work in a case involving two Antelope Valley teenage girls who were abducted on Aug. 1, 2002, by Roy Ratliff, said sheriff’s Senior Deputy Danisha Ashley.

The younger Thatcher was assigned to the Ridgecrest station, Sheriff Donny Youngblood told KBAK-TV.

He is at least the third Kern County sheriff’s deputy this year to face criminal charges.

In May, two former deputies, Logan August and Derrick Penney, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute and possession with the intent to distribute marijuana, according to U.S. Atty. Phillip A. Talbert.

Federal authorities said the former deputies conspired to steal marijuana from the Kern County Sheriff’s Office storage unit. The marijuana had been seized during criminal investigations.

They have agreed to forfeit any money they earned from the trafficking operation.

August and Penney face up to five years in prison.

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