Ex-DCSO deputy, detective pleads not guilty to official misconduct charges; change of venue sought

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A former longtime Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy and detective pleaded not guilty Thursday to charges he transferred intimate photos from a dead man’s phone to his own and later engaged in an offensive encounter with the man’s girlfriend.

Ron Brown, 58, entered the pleas to three counts of first-degree official misconduct and one count of unlawful dissemination of an intimate image, all Class A misdemeanors.

Brown’s defense lawyer, Kirsten Curtis of Thenell Law Group, said she advised the court of Brown’s intent for a change of venue. A hearing on that expected motion is scheduled for March 16.

The charges, filed last October, allege Brown was called to the scene of a death in September of 2021 and the man’s girlfriend asked him to delete intimate photos of her and her boyfriend from her boyfriend’s phone, so the family wouldn’t see them. Instead, he allegedly transferred the images to his phone.

Two months later, when the woman was being evicted from a motel, management denied her access to some personal items and she called Brown for help, then-District Attorney John Hummel said. He said Brown retrieved the items, falsely claiming he was on law enforcement business, and later told her to get in his car and she found he was aroused and watching pornography on his phone.

The sheriff’s office said Sheriff Shane Nelson put Brown on administrative leave upon learning of the allegations and he retired during an internal affairs investigation.