Three arrested in drug raid on SE Bend drywall business

Central Oregon drug agents said Wednesday they raided a southeast Bend drywall company last week, seizing drugs allegedly being sold out of the business, located near Bend High School, and arresting three Bend residents.

Detectives assigned to the CODE Team executed a search warrant around 4 p.m. last Wednesday at the business operated by CCI Bend at 145 Southeast Ninth Street, said Bend police Lt. Ken Mannix.

Mannix said a nearly two-month investigation revealed that Christine Padgett, 44, was involved in illegal trafficking of methamphetamine throughout Deschutes County.

Investigators also determined that Padgett was living with Dustin Hull, 45, at the commercial building being operated by CCI Bend, Mannix said. Along with street sales, the investigation found that Padgett was selling drugs from the business, he added.

Around 1 p.m. last Wednesday, CODE Team detectives contacted Padgett as she was driving on Highway 97 near Grandview Drive. She was taken into custody, and a search of the vehicle turned up a half-ounce of meth, scales and packaging material, Mannix said.

During the raid later that day, Hull and a third suspect, Jesse Shen, 35, were contacted in the business. Mannix said they found and seized about two ounces of meth, user amounts of heroin and cocaine, scales, packaging material, cash and other evidence of meth sales and distribution.

All three were booked into the Deschutes County Jail on various drug charges, but were released by the next day, on their own recognizance, conditionally or in the case of Shen after posting 10 percent of $80,000 bail.

Mannix told NewsChannel 21 Padgett, the main target of the investigation, was living with Hull, her boyfriend, at the business. She was not an employee, but he was, the lieutenant said, noting that Hull was not charged with any drug deliveries or manufacturing, only possession.