La Pine home burglar caught in the act, thanks to tip, K-9

An alert citizen spotted a broken window and saw someone walking around in a La Pine home Tuesday, prompting a call to 911. And the bark of a Deschutes County sheriff’s K-9 helped convince the burglary suspect, a Salem man. to surrender to deputies.

Deputies responded around 12:30 p.m. to the 50000 block of Ash Road on a report of a home burglary in progress, Sgt. Kent VanderKamp said.

The citizen who saw the man walking around inside had left the immediate area and called 911 dispatchers to report the apparent break-in.

Deputies, including K-9 Brolo and his handler/partner, Deputy Kent Slater, responded and set up a perimeter around the house.

They then made several announcements to the man inside, later identified as Timothy Ray Paul Evans, 33, of Salem. But Evans tried to run out the rear of the home into the woods, only to be confronted by deputies, VanderKamp said.

Evans did not immediately follow deputies’ commands, but Evans responded to Brolo’s barking commands and surrendered without further incident.

Evans was being booked into the county jail in Bend on charges of first-degree burglary, criminal mischief and third-degree theft. His initial bail was set at $27,000.

Brolo, a 6-year-old Belgian Malinois, has been wth the sheriff’s office since September 2015.