NE Oregon man jailed in Prineville convenience store holdup
A 46-year-old man from the northeast Oregon town of Cove was arrested Tuesday in the Nov. 29 armed robbery of Prineville’s Circle K convenience store, police said.
Police had released three security-camera images in hopes of generating tips and finding the man who held up the convenience store on West Third Street around 3 a.m., showing a handgun, demanding cash from the register and fleeing.
A white Dodge pickup, registered out of Minnesota, that had been seen in the area of the robbery later was identified as belonging to the suspect, identified as Vaughn Alan Waugaman, said Sgt. Tom Kurtz.
Two days after the holdup, on Dec. 1, Oregon State Police game troopers contacted Waugaman at Stillwater Campground, west of Prineville Reservoir, on a fishing violation and he allegedly provided false information to the trooper, Kurtz said.
“Due to the diligent work of the deputies and troopers, we were able to locate video positively identifying Waugaman as the robbery suspect,” Kurtz said in a news release.
Shortly after 8 a.m. Tuesday, police from several agencies executed a search warrant at the Castle Rock Campground, located near milepost 12 on Highway 27 (the Crooked River Highway) south of Prineville.
Other agencies assisting included the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team (CERT), Crook County Sheriff’s Office, OSP, Bend police, the BLM and Forest Service, Kurtz said.
Waugaman was taken into custody without incident, as officers searched his travel trailer and vehicle, finding “further items of evidentiary value that implicated Waugaman in the robbery,” the sergeant said in a news release.
Waugaman was taken to the Crook County Jail in Prineville and booked on charges of first-degree robbery, second-degree theft, menacing and felon in possession of a restricted weapon. He was held on $80,000 bail.
Through information obtained through the search warrant, the handgun used in the robbery was located a short time later in the area of the O’Neil Highway, Kurtz said.
“The Prineville Police Department would like to thank the public for all the tips provided in this case,” the sergeant added.
