Madras felon gets nearly 6 years for having gun at Bend motel

A 30-year-old Madras man arrested after a Bend motel robbery and Redmond standoff five years ago has been sentenced to nearly six years in federal prison as a felon in possession of a gun at a Bend motel last year, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

After the 70-month prison term imposed Monday by U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Keith August Wayne Jones will be on supervised release for three years, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

According to prosecutors, on April 26 of last year, police found Jones in possession of a gun in a Bend motel room.

Jones has numerous previous felony convictions, including second-degree robbery, methamphetamine delivery and fleeing or attempting to elude police.

The case was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) and the Bend Police Department. It was prosecuted by Nathan J. Lichvarcik, assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Oregon, with the assistance of Kandy Gies, Deschutes County deputy district attorney.

In January 2012, Bend police said Jones and two other men entered a Southeast Third Street motel room and robbed three victims at gunpoint.

Three days later, police learned Jones was in an apartment on Southwest Canyon Drive in Redmond. Detectives tried to convince him to come out, officers said, but he crawled into the attic space above the apartment and broke into the adjoining, vacant apartment attic space.

The Central Oregon Emergency Response Team was activated as several nearby residents were evacuated, and police made numerous attempts to get Jones to surrender over several hours.

Chemical agents (tear gas) were put into the apartments’ attics early the next morning, and about an hour later, Jones came out and was taken into custody.