Redmond police chase, catch fugitive sex offender

Acting on a tip, Redmond police on Saturday found a convicted sex offender wanted on a four-year-old warrant, leading to a brief pursuit on snowy streets, a crash and the fugitive’s subsequent arrest, officers said Sunday.

Redmond police received information around 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning that Michael Ira McDonald, 60, might be in the city, said Sgt. Curtis Chambers.

Officers learned McDonald was wanted on two warrants, one issued by the Oregon State Parole Board over four years ago, after he failed to register as a sex offender, and the other out of Maricopa County, Arizona, Chambers said, adding that he was believed to have fled the state.

A website said McDonald should be “considered armed and dangerous” and said he might be traveling between Oregon, Colorado and New Mexico. It said he was driving a motor home and towing a Mercedes SUV with Oregon plates.

Only about 20 minutes after police got the tip, a Redmond officer spotted McDonald behind the wheel of a Mercedes SUV on Northwest Rimrock Avenue near Maple Drive. She tried to pull him over in a traffic stop, but the driver tried to elude the officer, Chambers said.

“The snow- and ice-covered roadways made catching up to McDonald much more difficult,” Chambers said in a news release.

The officer activated her overhead lights, but McDonald kept going, making several quick turns and running a stop sign, the sergeant said. He soon crashed into another car stopped at a stop sign on Northwest Jackpine Avenue at Sixth Street, across from a Dutch Bros. coffee stand.

McDonald then stopped, was contacted by the officer and arrested shortly before 10 a.m. Chambers said there were no injuries in the crash and McDonald was not armed when he was taken into custody.

McDonald was lodged at the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, where he was held without bail on a parole violation, as well as four felony counts of failure to register as a sex offender, felony attempt to elude, reckless driving, criminal mischief and interfering with a police officer.

Chambers said Redmond police were “very appreciative of the information received which led to the arrest” of McDonald, adding, “Policing is not solely the job of uniformed police officers, but is the responsibility of the entire community.”