Suspected Bend drug trafficker arrested; meth, stolen guns seized
Central Oregon drug agents and the region’s SWAT team arrested a Bend man as he slept in his pickup truck along Highway 22 in Linn County, finding more than a half-pound of methamphetamine and five guns – three of them stolen — inside his truck, authorities said Tuesday.
Krishna Desaigoudar, 52, had been under investigation for nearly four months by the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team as detectives began receiving information that he was trafficking methamphetamine throughout Deschutes County, said lt. Ken Mannix.
Detectives also learned he was traveling to the Salem area to obtain the drugs he was selling in Central Oregon, Mannix said. Other information revealed he dealt in possible stolen firearms.
Last Thursday, detectives had information Desaigoudar was returning to Central Oregon from Salem after buying a large quantity of meth. Mannix said they found him sleeping in his 2004 Ford F-350 pickup beside Highway 22 in Linn County.
“Given Desaigoudar’s past history and recent intelligence information obtained by CODE detectives regarding firearms, high-risk protocols were followed during the arrest,” done around 6:30 a.m. by members of the CODE and Central Oregon Emergency Response (CERT) teams, Mannix said in a news release.
A later search of the pickup turned up more than a half-pound of meth, scales, packaging material, paraphernalia and other evidence of drug sales and manufacturing, the lieutenant said.
Detectives also found four pistols and a semi-automatic rifle during their search, he said. Three of the guns were confirmed stolen out of Deschutes County, one last October and the other two in the past two weeks, Mannix said.
Desaigoudar was taken to the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, where he remained held Tuesday on $40,000 bail, facing charges of meth possession, manufacturing and distribution, along with five counts of felon in possession of a firearm and three counts of first-degree theft by receiving. He’s due in court on Friday afternoon.
