Three Seattle men arrested in string of burglaries, vehicle thefts in Bend, Sunriver and La Pine
CERT, deputies, police raided property in Three Rivers area south of Sunriver, recovered stolen items
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A string of recent break-ins burglaries and vehicle thefts in Bend, Sunriver and La Pine led to a raid Wednesday night on a property in the Three Rivers area south of Sunriver and the arrest of three Seattle men who were staying there. All of the stolen vehicles and items were recovered, along with four guns and large amount of ammunition.
Bend police responded on Monday, August 14 to the U-Haul store in the 63000 block of N. Highway 97 after the store’s manager reported someone used a rock to break their glass door, get inside and steal a variety of vehicle keys, police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said Thursday in a news release.
A Deschutes County sheriff’s deputy found one of the stolen vehicles the next day near Sunriver, Miller said.
On Tuesday of this week, officers responded to a reported burglary at Oxarc, a welding and industrial supply business in the 20000 block of Robal Lane. Miller said officers learned the suspects arrived in a U-Haul truck, shot out the front door of the business and stole four welding units.
Around 2:35 a.m. Wednesday, Bend police assisted sheriff’s deputies on a report of a burglary at the Camp Abbot Trading Post and Ace Hardware in Sunriver, Miller said. A caller reported the suspects were driving a U-Haul pickup truck, and it was recovered, unoccupied, in Sunriver Village,
Also on Wednesday, at the county’s solid waste transfer station in La Pine reported the building had been broken into and property had been stolen.
Police and deputies investigation the crimes learned that a white Jeep with a black top was associated with the burglaries, Miller said.
A deputy spotted the Jeep in the area of Base Camp Grill in Sunriver and contacted the occupants. Officers also contacted the Jeep’s owner, who is out of state and not connected to the burglaries, learning the occupants were likely living at her property in the 55000 block of Lazy River Drive in the Three Rivers area, Miller said.
Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team (CERT), sheriff’s office and Bend police detectives executed a search warrant on the property and the Jeep. They recovered all of the property stolen in the burglaries, as well as four guns and a large amount of ammunition, Miller said.
Officers took Mark Sampayan, 31, Johnny Marza, 36, and Fortunato Novelo, 55, into custody and booked them into the Deschutes County Jail.
Sampayan was arrested at a home on the Lazy River Drive property on a dozen charges, including three counts of vehicle theft and two each of criminal mischief, burglary and criminal conspiracy. Marza was arrested on five charges, including burglary and criminal mischief, while Novelo was arrested on a charge of illegal possession of a firearm.
Sampayan was arraigned Thursday on the district attorney’s office’s five initial charges, all Class C felonies, and is due back in court in a week for arraignment on an expected formal indictment, court records showed.
