Four arrested in pair of Bend-area drug raids
An investigation over the past several months into the distribution of opiates like heroin and dangerous, Chinese-made synthetic drugs such as fentanyl led to a pair of Bend-area raids in the past week and the arrest of four people, Central Oregon drug agents said Tuesday night.
The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team executed the first search warrant shortly before 6 a.m. on Jan. 25 in the 700 block of Northwest Broadway Street, said Bend Police Lt. Nick Parker.
At that location, Michael Bandurian, 33, of Bend, and a homeless man, Jeremy Haller, 33, were taken into custody without incident and booked into the Deschutes County Jail on several charges, Parker said. Evidence seized in that raid included user amounts of heroin and methamphetamine, scales and packaging materials.
Shortly after 7 a.m. Monday, CODE Team detectives served a related search warrant in the 60000 block of Turquoise Road in Deschutes River Woods, Parker said.
At that location, drug agents contacted and arrested two Bend residents, Shane Dibavand, 22, and Lisa Hall, 44, without incident. The two also were taken to the county jail.
Evidence seized in that raid included more than 10 grams of powdered fentanyl, more than 100 grams of steroids, MDMA, a user amount of meth, scales and packaging materials. Parker said in a news release they also seized numerous prescription pills and a “substantial amount of powdered substances that have not been identified” as of yet.
Parker said investigators determined Dibavand was buying fentanyl and other synthetic drugs from China. He said Dibavand and Haller mixed different combinations of drugs before repackaging and selling them around Central Oregon. Dibavand also allegedly used computers to complete the drug-related crimes, as well as money laundering.
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opiod similar to morphine, but 500 to 100 times more potent than heroin. Parker said it’s typically used to treat patients with severe pain, or to manage pain after surgery.
“The potential for overdose with unlawful use of fentanyl is extremely high,” the lieutenant said.
Parker said U.S. Department of Homeland Security investigators, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms provided valuable assistance in the investigation.
All four suspects remained jailed Tuesday night, Bandurian was held on $80,000 bail for a variety of charges, including two counts of delivery of heroin within 1,000 feet of a school. Haller was held without bail on a probation violation, Dibavand on $135,000 bail and Hall on $120,000 bail.
