Bend transient arrested in string of 4 arson fires

A 64-year-old Bend transient was tracked down by a police dog and arrested on arson and other charges Monday, accused of starting four early-morning fires in northeast Bend, having previously threatened to do so and to harm police, officers said.

Lynn Merle Mowry, was booked into the Deschutes County Jail on four counts of second-degree arson and two count of improper use of 911. Jail records showed he was held on $41,000 bail.

Mowry called 911 dispatchers around 11:45 p.m. Sunday “but was not calling to report a true emergency,” Lt. Clint Burleigh said in a news release.

During the call, employee of the Sugar Loaf Mt. Motel on North Highway 97 mentioned to the dispatcher that Mowry was yelling and causing a disturbance, Burleigh said. Officers arrived to talk to him, but he ran away, the lieutenant added.

At 12:38 a.m. Monday, Mowry made another call to 911, this time from the Shilo Inn on O.B. Riley Road. Again, Burleigh said, the call was made without mentioning a true emergency. He was not located after that call.

Within a couple of hours after Mowry ran from the motel, four fires were reported in the area. Police and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies responded to the fires to assist Bend Fire and Rescue crews, who contacted police as the fires appeared suspicious in origin.

The first fire, at the east entrance of Sawyer Park off O.B. Riley Road, was reported at 1:19 a.m., Burleigh said. Just over an hour later, a fire was reported in the area of Northeast Empire Boulevard and Jamison Street.

Ten minutes later, a fire was reported in the median of the Bend Parkway, near the Butler Market Road on-ramp. The last fire was reported a couple of minutes later, at 2:33 a.m., near the railroad tracks along the parkway, just south of Empire Avenue.

Burleigh said Bend police had contact with Mowry before Monday, and he “made statements threatening to start fires within the city of Bend and threatening to harm law enforcement officers.”

After the fourth fire, Bend Police Corporal James Kinsella and his K-9 partner Haras began searching the area, which took more than 90 minutes and covered nearly two miles. They found Mowry near the railroad tracks and parkway, behind the property at 62965 Boyd Acres Road, Burleigh said.

Several Bend officers, sheriff’s deputies and Oregon State Police responded to help take Mowry into custody without incident around 4 a.m.

A Bend Police officer suffered injuries during the effort to take Mowry into custody, but Burleigh said they were not directly caused by him. The officer was taken to St. Charles Bend for treatment and released.

Mowry complained of a “non-specific medical condition,” so Bend Fire medics responded and took him to the hospital for evaluation. He was later taken to the county jail.

Online court records showed Mowry was arrested Nov. 5 and conditionally released from jail after a court hearing last Thursday, facing charges of harassment and third-degree theft, accused of stealing a woman’s purse and causing “offensive physical contact” on Nov. 4.

There are no other Deschutes County charges in Mowry’s previous court records, which includes charges in Marion, Clackamas, Lane and Lincoln counties on charges ranging from criminal mischief and resisting arrest to marijuana possession, menacing and unlawful use of a weapon. He was accused of telephonic harassment and second-degree criminal trespass last month in Lincoln County.