Transient jailed in Prineville tire-iron attack

A Prineville transient was arrested and jailed on assault and other charges Wednesday, accused of going to the home of an acquaintance and hitting him several times on the head with a tire iron, Crook County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies and Prineville police were dispatched around 11:40 p.m. Tuesday to a reported assault at a home in the 1800 block of Southeast Melrose Drive, said sheriff’s Sgt. Bill Elliott.

Arriving deputies learned the suspect, later identified as Mike Philip Ford, 44, had gone to the home and assaulted the victim with a tire iron, striking him on the head several times before leaving on foot, Elliott said.

The victim was taken by Crook County Fire and Rescue ambulance to St. Charles Prineville, where he was treated for serious but not life-threatening injuries and later released, the sergeant said.

Deputies and officers searched the area for Ford but were unable to find him. But on Wednesday, deputies found Ford at the Redemption House homeless shelter on Northwest Second Street in Prineville.

Ford was arrested at the Redemption House, an area homeless shelter, on charges of second-degree assault, second-degree criminal trespass and strangulation and lodged in the Crook County Jail, where he remained held late Wednesday on $62,500 bail.

Elliott also said the suspect had been trespassed (ordered to leave) the property prior to the assault. The sergeant was unaware what the attack was about, and had no information that alcohol was a factor.