Bend Parkway aid stop leads to hidden meth, driver’s arrest

Two men, from Madras and Bend, face drug charges after police stopped to help with their SUV, partly blocking a lane of the Bend Parkway, and found more than two pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside it, officers said Tuesday.

An officer stopped around 1:40 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 1, to help with a 2007 Yukon partly blocking a northbound lane on the parkway near Revere Avenue, said Lt. Clint Burleigh.

The driver, Omar Benitez, 35, of Madras, and passenger, Kenneth Ashbaugh, 54, of Bend, were able to move the SUV off the highway, Burleigh said.

But the officer soon learned Benitez was driving with a suspended license, a misdemeanor, and took him into custody, Burleigh said. The officer also found Ashbaugh possessed over five grams of meth.

A subsequent investigation revealed another two pounds of meth concealed inside the SUV, split into two packages, Burleigh said.

Benitez was taken to the Deschutes County Jail and booked on drug manufacture, delivery and possession charges, and the misdemeanor driving while suspended charge as well.

A jail officer said Benitez was released the next day after posting 10 percent of his $50,000 bail, pending a court date Tuesday.

Ashbaugh was issued a citation to appear in court on a drug possession charge.