Transient accused of selling heroin from Mexico at China Hat homeless camps; nearly a lb. found in storage unit

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A transient has been arrested on charges of distributing heroin from Mexico at several homeless camps in the China Hat area south of Bend. Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies said Wednesday nearly a pound of the drug was found at a Redmond-area storage unit he was renting.

The sheriff’s office Street Crimes Unit conducted a short-term investigation on Feb. 28 of the 61-year-old man’s heroin distribution in the area, Sergeant Jason Wall said.

Investigators used “various investigative means” to learn he was distributing the heroin, having received commercial quantities from a drug-trafficking organization based in Mexico, the sergeant said.

SCU investigators identified a storage unit he was renting, then applied for and received a search warrant, finding a commercial quantity of suspected heroin.

The suspect was contacted last Thursday in the Terrebonne area, taken into custody and brought to the county jail in Bend, where he was booked on drug possession and delivery charges.

Street Crimes Unit detectives were assisted by detectives from the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team.