Look up, lock up: K-9 trees fleeing La Pine fugitive

A La Pine man wanted for burglary and parole violation was tracked by pursuing Deschutes County sheriff’s deputies through the snowy woods for over a mile Friday afternoon. But it was sheriff’s K-9 Brolo and his human partner who made the final collar – finding the fugitive trying to hide about 30 feet up a tree, deputies said.

A sheriff’s deputy spotted Robert Edmondson III, 32, of La Pine, around 2:10 p.m. at a home in the 16000 block of Green Forest Road, said sheriff’s Sgt. William Bailey.

Edmondson was wanted on a felony arrest warrant from the Oregon Parole Board for parole violation, and recently was indicted by a Deschutes County grand jury on two counts each of first- and second-degree burglary.

The deputy tried to contact Edmondson, but he ran, triggering a manhunt that brought in more deputies and Oregon State Police troopers who set up a search perimeter.

Bailey said deputies tracked Edmondson through the snow for more than a mile in wooded terrain, until he came out at the east end of Buena Vista Drive.

Deputy Keith Slater and his K-9 partner Brolo responded to help, tracking Edmondson for about 500 yards, ultimately finding Edmondson hiding about 30 feet up a tree.

Deputies gave Edmondson verbal commands to climb down, and he did so and was taken into custody without further incident, Bailey.

Unconfirmed police scanner reports indicated deputies held Edmondson at gunpoint when he was spotted up the tree around 3:20 p.m.

“He says he’s going to smoke a cigarette and come down,” a deputy was heard saying, adding that it would take a few minutes because “he’s like 20 feet up” the tree.

K-9 Brolo is a 4-year-old Belgian Malinois who joined the department in September 2015.

Edmondson was one of three La Pine residents arrested in a drug raid last April on a home on Green Forest Road. He was held on an outstanding Linn County warrant for parole violation, as well as methamphetamine delivery and possession, as well as felon in possession of a restricted weapon.

In October 2006, Edmondson, then 22, was charged with pointing a gun at four girls near Bend High School. He later was arrested at Mountain View High, which went into lockdown on a report he was headed that way. Police said a loaded handgun was found in his car, parked east of the football field, but officers said there was no indication he planned to enter the school with the gun.