Two arrested in Bend theft of pickup, tires, radiators

Three hours of police surveillance of suspicious activity in the area of two Bend businesses early Monday led to a pair of traffic stops and the arrest of two men on charges they stole a pickup in a parking lot and tires and radiators from a nearby auto repair shop’s fenced yard.

Around midnight, an officer spotted suspicious circumstances in the area of the Moose Lodge at 61357 South Highway 97 and Goodyear Auto Care at 61343 South Highway 97, said police Sgt. Mike Landolt. The officer saw people loitering and walking in the area of the closed businesses.

Police conducted surveillance in the area until about 3 a.m., Landolt said, adding that they “appeared to be casing the area,” a common practice before crimes are committed.

At that point, a white 1999 Dodge Ram 2500 left the Moose Lodge parking lot and went to the area of Goodyear, where officers watched and saw there were tires in the bed of the pickup when it left Goodyear that had not been there when it arrived, the sergeant said.

An officer conducted a traffic stop on the pickup in the area of 20120 South Highway 97, north of Powers Road, “based on reasonable suspicion that a crime had occurred and for an observed traffic stop,” Landolt said. The violation was not specified.

While conducting the traffic stop, police noted that a rear window had been broken out and the truck’s ignition had been damaged. Landolt said an investigation found the pickup being driven by Troy Nielson, 48, of Madras, had been stolen from the Moose Lodge parking lot.

Police found that 10 tires and six radiators in the bed of the pickup, totaling about $600 in value, had been taken from a rear fenced area on the Goodyear property, Landolt said. The fence had been cut and damaged for entry into the area. Landolt said the items were returned to the business and the pickup was impounded.

Around the same time, another Bend police officer made a separate traffic stop near the two businesses on a white 1999 Ford Ranger, also involved in the investigation of the case. The driver, Daniel Webb, 48, of Bend, was found to be involved in the thefts of the vehicle and at Goodyear Auto Care, Landolt said.

Web also was found in possession of burglars’ tools such as a sledgehammer, wire cutters, wrenches and flashlights.

Both men were taken to the Deschutes County Jail and booked on charges of unauthorized motor vehicle, second-degree theft and second-degree criminal mischief. Webb also was charged with misdemeanor driving while suspended and held without bail on a parole violation.

Nielson was conditionally released from jail early Monday afternoon, a jail officer said..