Bend man charged with stealing 3 trailers in 2 days

Utility trailers are portable, by nature. But the way a Bend man allegedly swiped three of the pricey storage units on wheels from people’s driveways — in just two days — using a ruse about retrieving a wayward drone is prompting police to advise tempering kindness with caution.

Bend police said they began getting reports of stolen trailers late last week, and were able to find the suspect because of the way he went about stealing those trailers.

According to police, the man would go up to homes with trailers parked in the driveway and knock on the door, telling the resident his son had lost a drone in their trees.

He then let the homeowners know he needed to move the trailer on their property in order to get access to the drone. Then he hooked up the trailer to his own car — and drove away with it.

Lt. Clint Burleigh said there were three similar reports in two days, last Thursday and Friday, and they were able to identify a suspect on Sunday.

“Our officers were able to use some social media, gain some information on that, find out what the vehicle was, and the officers were able to track down the person responsible for that,” Burleigh said.

Police on Tuesday identified the suspect as 40-year-old Dustin Mooney of Bend. He was cited to appear in court on a first-degree theft charge.

Burleigh said the first incident happened on Southwest Porcupine Drive and involved a $500 trailer. The second, just an hour later, was in the 19000 block of SW Hollygrape Street and involved a $4,000 trailer. The third occurred the next day, on SW Powers Road, and a $1,000 trailer was taken.

Officers said they were able to identify and cite a suspect on Sunday after one trailer had been sold on Craigslist.

Les Mombert lives on the southwest side of Bend, and just last Thursday had his trailer stolen from his yard.

He has since been able to get the trailer back, with the help of Bend police, and said he is shocked by how bold this thief was.

“Pretty tough, when you can’t leave stuff on your own property any more and they steal it,” Mombert said. “Now I’ve got to start locking everything up and whatever. It’s not fair to the honest people.”

Mombert was able to get his trailer back over the weekend after another couple bought it on Craigslist from the alleged thief. It’s the only one that’s been recovered, according to police, as all three were sold to other Bend residents.

Mombert said he hopes that by telling his story, people will be more aware of others who take advantage of honest people.

Burleigh said it’s important to lock up your items of value that you leave outside, and also to record information like the VIN number on a trailer, to help officers find the stolen items faster.

“Most trailers will have a VIN number on them. Most pieces of equipment will have a serial number on them,” Burleigh said. “If it is reported stolen with those numbers, then we can recover that and see if it is stolen or not.”

Being aware of these types of scams and being cautious around people you don’t know could help you from becoming a victim, according to Burleigh.

“The suspect in this case took advantage of the trust and kindness of people within our community,” Burleigh said in a news release. “We encourage kindness throughout our community, but be aware of your property. Each one of these trailers were available to steal, as not one of them had a hitch lock or wheel lock. Small locks on the hitch or the wheels can prevent people from taking your trailer.”