Three men arrested after pair of Bend meth deals

Central Oregon drug agents continued their busy summer week on Thursday evening with the arrest of three area residents at two locations in Bend on methamphetamine-related charges.

Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team detectives were investigating suspicious activity at a business along Northeast Third Street when they spotted two vehicles in a parking lot around 4:45 p.m., both with occupants “acting in a manner that drew suspicion of narcotics officers,” Lt. Ken Mannix said in a news release.

As one vehicle, a gray Chevy Tahoe occupied by Ryan Crossley, 47, of Redmond, left the area, detectives followed it to another parking lot on the south end of Bend, at Southeast Third Street and Pinebrook Boulevard, Mannix said.

As surveillance continued on both vehicles, Crossley met up with Christian Killelea, 23, of Bend, who was on foot in the parking lot. Mannix said detectives “observed a drug transaction occur” between the two men, then contacted both and took them into custody without incident. Both men were in possession of methamphetamine at the time, he added.

After taking Crossley and Killelea into custody, detectives, assisted by Bend police, contacted the second car, a green Lexus, at the intersection of Northeast Third Street and Norton Avenue, Mannix said.

The driver, Erminio Pena Ramirez, 34, of Redmond, was arrested and “a large sum of U.S. currency was located in the vehicle and seized,” the lieutenant said.

Detectives said Crossley had met with Pena in the northeast Bend business parking lot and bought meth, then headed to the south end of town and sold the drug to Killelea.

Mannix noted that nearly four years ago, in August 2011, Crossley was the subject of another CODE Team investigation, which found that he was involved in trafficking heroin in the Bend area.

All three men were booked into the Deschutes County Jail. Along with the meth charges, Crossley was held without bail on a parole violation charge. Pena Ramirez was held on $40,000 bail, facing meth possession, manufacturing and distribution charges. Killelea was booked on a meth possession charge and later released, jail officers said.

It was the third set of CODE Team drug arrests in Bend in two days.