Bend 19-year-old accused of selling drugs to HS students

A 19-year-old Bend resident was arrested Tuesday, accused of selling cocaine, Xanax and other drugs to high school students, picking them up in his car and conducting sales off-campus during lunch or after school, police said.

Bend police received anonymous information over the past two weeks that Dylan Phillip Ricker was supplying cocaine and other drugs to high school students, Lt. Clint Burleigh said Wednesday. The information indicated he was conducting the drug sales off-campus, but at times within 1,000 feet of a school.

The police department’s Intelligence Led Policing Team began working on the case and conducted surveillance for several days, concluding Tuesday, Burleigh said.

During Tuesday’s surveillance, Ricker was seen stopping at two schools, one during lunch and another after school, the lieutenant said. Each time, Ricker picked up a student in his car, a 2003 Subaru Impreza.

Burleigh said officers also saw Ricker make several traffic violations, including failure to maintain a lane of travel. They pulled him over on Tuesday around 2:20 p.m. in the area of Southeast Third Street and Reed Lane.

During the traffic stop, officers searched his car and found several types of drugs and items related to alleged drug sales, among them over 10 grams of cocaine separately packaged for sale and user amounts of methamphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy) and Xanax. More than $4,000 in cash was seized, believed to be the proceeds from drug sales, Burleigh said.

During the investigation, Ricker was found to have provided at least one juvenile with cocaine and Xanax on several occasions, Burleigh said.

Ricker was arrested on charges of cocaine possession, delivery and manufacture and several other drug-related charges, including delivery of cocaine and a Schedule IV controlled substance (Xanax) to a minor.

He was booked into the Deschutes County Jail, where he remained Wednesday on $50,000 bail after his arraignment on an initial nine-count charging document, called an information. He is due back in court Nov. 14 for arraignment on an expected formal indictment. Court records show no prior criminal history.

“The Bend Police Department took the information we received about Ricker delivering controlled substances to local high school students seriously,” Burleigh said in a news release.

“We partner with the Bend La Pine Schools in many ways to help provide a safe environment for our students to learn. This case was an example of another way we can make a safer learning environment for our students.”