Raid on Bend storage units finds drugs, stolen gun

A Prineville man already jailed on drug charges and an arrest warrant faces new charges after a raid on three Bend storage units turned up two guns, one of them stolen, as well as prescription drugs and large amounts of marijuana and edibles, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said Thursday.

Deputies assisted by the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team executed a search warrant Monday on three storage units at an undisclosed Bend location, sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Elliott said in a news release.

The investigation began about a month earlier, when Crook County deputies responded to a civil complaint regarding a squatter at a residence and arrested Justin Kurz (also known as Justin Kurtz), 42, of Prineville, on a Deschutes County arrest warrant.

During the arrest, deputies found “a large amount of cocaine and prescription drugs on his person,” Elliott said.

Kurz was booked into the Crook County Jail Aug. 16 on cocaine manufacturing, delivery and possession charges. A jail officer said he remained held Thursday on $185,000 bail.

The investigation also revealed a gun had been stolen from the Prineville home where Kurz had been squatting, Elliott said.

Deputies learned Kurz had three storage units in Bend, leading to the search warrant that was served Monday. Inside, they found more prescription medication and two guns, including the one reported stolen, as well as about 109 pounds of marijuana and about 87 pounds of marijuana edibles, the sergeant said.

Elliott said Kurz now faces additional charges of first-degree theft, two counts of felon in possession of a firearm and felony charges of illegal possession of marijuana and marijuana edibles.

Court records show a lengthy criminal history for Kurz, who listed a Bend address when he pleaded not guilty Aug. 24 to seven drug counts in Crook County Court , a week after his arrest. A third status-check hearing in that case is scheduled for Friday.
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Kurz was indicted in Deschutes County in May 2016 on charges of illegal possession of Oxycodone and Alprazolam, the outstanding charges that led to an arrest warrant issued last month on the day he was jailed.

Kurz was convicted in 2014 of Oxycodone possession and tampering with evidence, receiving a 20-day jail sentence and 18 months probation