Bend man charged in illegal burn near Lava Lands Visitor Center

A Bend man with an outstanding California arrest warrant was arrested on several charges Monday afternoon, accused of starting an illegal fire near the Lava Lands Visitor Center that burned about a quarter-acre earlier in the day, Oregon State Police reported.

Around 2:30 p.m., the U.S. Forest Service investigated an illegal burn at a primitive campsite in the Deschutes National Forest off Benham Falls Road (FS Road 9702), near the Lava Lands Visitor Center, OSP Sgt. Michael Berland said.

The burn’s size was estimated at a quarter-acre, and evidence of drug use was found at the scene, Berland said.

A suspect contacted by a Forest Service Law Enforcement officer initially gave a false name and fled a short time later in a teal 1993 Ford Escort station wagon, the sergeant said.

The officer was able to take down the license plate and distributed the information to area police. Berland said OSP troopers and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies began searching for the suspect or suspects.

Around 4 p.m., county 911 dispatchers got a report of a rolling domestic disturbance near Third Street and Northeast Franklin Avenue in Bend, with a vehicle that matched the one in the reported reckless burning incident.

Bend police and OSP troopers found and stopped the Escort, and the driver, later identified as Benjamin Noah Osborn, 43, was positively identified as the suspect, Berland said. Osborn and his passenger, a 28-year-old Redding, Calif., resident, were taken to St. Charles Bend for evaluation for concerns of drug use.

Osborn later was taken to the county jail and booked on charges of DUII-drugs, heroin possession, giving false information to police, failure to register as a sex offender and being a fugitive from justice on an outstanding California arrest warrant. Berland said the Forest Service also issued citations for illegal burning and giving false information to police. The woman passenger was not charged.

OSP, the Forest Service and all first responders urge the public to use extreme caution and follow fire restrictions to reduce the risk to lives and public and private property damage, Berland said.