Drug agents arrest four in Bend on heroin charges
A tip that a Stockton, Calif., resident was traveling to the Bend area to sell large amounts of heroin late last week led to the arrest of that suspect and three others, including a 17-year-old girl, Central Oregon drug agents said Monday.
Investigation by detectives with the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team led them to believe the California fugitive, Primotivo Savedra, 21, was staying at a Bend-area motel and was associated with others known to be involved in heroin trafficking around Central Oregon, said Lt. Ken Mannix.
The CODE Team detectives tracked Savedra’s and the associates’ activities and movements, and around 10 p.m. last Thursday, detectives, assisted by Bend police and Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies, contacted Savedra in a business parking lot on Northeast Division Street, Mannix said.
“Given Savedra’s potential for violence and current fugitive arrest warrant status out of California, high-risk arrest protocols were followed” in the arrest, meaning guns were drawn, the lieutenant said in a news release.
During the arrest, Savedra tried to dispose of about a quarter-ounce of heroin by tossing it into nearby shrubbery, Mannix said.
About 15 minutes later, police raided a room at the Bend Value Inn, 2346 NE Division Street, where Savedra and his associates were known to be staying.
Mannix said a second suspect, Robert Baguindo Jr., 21, and a 17-year-old girl, both also from Stockton, were found in the room and taken into custody without incident.
Evidence seized during the search warrant included user amounts of heroin, “a large sum” of cash and scales and packaging material, he said.
Last Friday, CODE Team detectives contacted and arrested Timothy Lee Johnson, 32 of Bend, at the same motel, Mannix said. They had identified him as an associate of Savedra, both as a customer and supplier of heroin throughout the county. He was found to be in possession of a small amount of money.
Savendra remained held without bail at the county jail Monday on the out-of-county warrant, also facing local charges of heroin possession, manufacturing and delivery as well as endangering the welfare of a minor and tampering with evidence. Johnson also was held without bail on a parole violation, along with charges of conspiracy to possess heroin.
Baguindo was arrested on charges of heroin possession, endangering the welfare of a minor and frequenting a place where drugs are used, kept or sold. He was released later Friday after posting 10 percent of his $25,000 bail, jail officers said. The teen girl faces heroin possession and frequenting charges.
