Two arrested at Govt. Camp, accused of bringing meth to C.O.
Central Oregon drug agents conducted a high-risk, guns-drawn traffic stop in a parking lot near Mt. Hood this week, arresting a man and woman from southwest Washington and seizing more than 2 pounds of methamphetamine agents said was being brought to Central Oregon.
Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team detectives stopped a Mitsubishin Eclipse and made the arrest around 5 p.m. Monday of Thomas Abernathy, 42, and Katie Dietrich, 35, both of Battle Ground, Washington, as Dietrich drove through the parking lot of a rest area at Government Camp, said Bend police Lt. Ken Mannix.
The arrests resulted from a long-term investigation by CODE Team detectives into Abernathy’s alleged trafficking of commercial quantities of meth from his hometown into Central Oregon for distribution, Mannix said.
The investigators developed information that Abernathy was traveling to Central Oregon on Monday with a large quantity of the drug. Mannix said they used “various surveillance techniques” to find, identify and monitor the pair’s activities, then stopped and arrested them without incident.
A search of the car led to the discovery of about 2.1 pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $30,000, Mannix said, as well as scales, packaging material and other evidence of commercial delivery and manufacturing of the drug.
Abernethy remained jailed Thursday, held without bail on an out-of-county warrant and facing new charges of meth delivery, possession and manufacturing that carry $50,000 bail, Dietrich also was still jailed on $25,000 bail, facing drug charges.
