Bend police arrest pair of theft, burglary suspects

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Two transients are charged with theft and other crimes in the theft of a log splitter from a Bend store, one of them also accused of the theft of a cargo trailer and tools from a northwest Bend construction site, police said Tuesday.

Police were dispatched just before 8 a.m. to an area next to a business on Grandview Drive, after a citizen reported two people standing outside a dumpster area with bolt cutters, Lt. Clint Burleigh said. The community member said they believed a log splitter in the dumpster area had been stolen.

Officers arrived and talked with a 31-year-old man, and an investigation using video surveillance determined he and a 30-year-old man had stolen the log splitter from Lowe’s earlier in the morning, Burleigh said. They were found to be associated with one of the travel trailers parked on nearby Hunnell Road, he added.

Investigating officers also found evidence linking the 30-year-old to a recovered cargo trailer stolen from near a construction site in the 600 block of Northwest York Drive on Sunday or Monday, Burleigh said.

About $15,000 worth of tools were stolen from the construction site. Burleigh said items stolen from the construction site were found in and around the travel trailer on Hunnell Road, the officer said. The stolen cargo trailer was recovered Monday on Forest Service Road 41, with the stolen tools inside of it.

The 30-year-old was arrested and booked into the Deschutes County Jail on charges of first-degree theft, first-degree aggravated theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, third-degree criminal mischief and possession of burglary tools, along with a probation violation.

The 31-year-old was charged with second-degree theft and second-degree criminal mischief. He was issued a citation to appear in court on the charges, Burleigh said.

The investigation is continuing and more arrests are possible, the lieutenant added.