Bend man charged with extortion, accused of threat to report landscaper to ICE

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel filed an extortion charge Wednesday against a Bend man accused of threatening to turn in a Redmond man – who is a legal U.S. resident -- to federal immigration officials for deportation in a dispute over payment for a pickup truck.

Last summer, Hummel said, the Redmond man did some landscaping work for Thomas Schlossmacher, 61, of Bend. As partial payment for the work, Schlossmacher gave the man his pickup truck.

But a dispute arose over the final payment details, leading Schlossmacher to allegedly send the other man a text message that said: "You need to respond to me, you owe me 1500.00 for the truck, then you can get the title, if no response, I will file a complaint with the small claims in Deschutes County to get my monies and turn you and your family into INS for deportations, your choice."

When interviewed by police, Schlossmacher said that he “kinda felt” that Cardona was in the U.S. illegally, and his intent in sending the text message was to scare him. Hummel said in a news release.

 In 2016, the DA said, Oregon's extortion statute was amended to make it unlawful to threaten to report someone’s suspected immigration status to law enforcement in order to compel them to do something. 

Schlossmacher's first court appearance is set for March 18.

“By all accounts, (the alleged victim) is one of the hardest-working and most proficient landscaping professionals in Deschutes County," Hummel said in a statement. "He’s a person who wakes up every morning with the goal of working hard to provide for his family and to well serve his customers. 

"The fact that a member of our community threatened (him) with deportation over a good-faith billing dispute is shocking and disheartening.

"We’ve come a long way in Deschutes County toward being a fully welcoming community, and we have much work to do," the DA said. "Holding people accountable who violate the law based on their animus toward others is a small and necessary step in the process.”