Bend man jailed in wild crime spree, Walmart flooding

(Update: Adding video, victim’s comments)

A Bend man was arrested early Sunday after he allegedly forced a motorist to drive him downtown, got a cab and robbed that driver at knifepoint, struck a Bend Walmart shopper in the head with an Airsoft gun and broke water lines while hiding in a maintenance area, flooding the store and closing it temporarily.

“Drugs and alcohol are believed to be factors” in the sequence of events that led to the arrest of Jared Allen Lake, 33, Bend police Sgt. Rob Emerson said.

Aaron Rife, 20, of Bend, called Deschutes County 911 around 9:25 p.m. Saturday to report a man, later identified as Lake, forced his way into the victim’s car as he was leaving the Shari’s Restaurant at Bend River Promenade, Emerson said.

Lake told the man to take him downtown and refused to get out until he did so. The sergeant said the man drove Lake downtown, then called 911.

“He did not display a weapon,” Emerson said, “but the victim felt he didn’t have a choice.”

Rife told NewsChannel 21 on Sunday he’d just picked up dinner at Shari’s and was leaving when Lake jumped in his car: “He said he couldn’t wait, he had to get downtown right away or his roommate was going to lock him out or something. So I figured at that point, without knowing if he had a weapon on him or not, I should just kind of go with it and not provoke him.”

A short time later, a cab company dispatcher called 911 after getting a text asking for help from a 40-year-old Bend man who drives for the company, Emerson said. Phone calls to the driver were not being answered.

When police got in touch with the cab driver, he said he’d picked up Lake from the Doubletree by Hilton hotel on Franklin Avenue in downtown Bend.

The cab driver said Lake robbed him at knifepoint of an undisclosed amount of cash and left the cab at Bend’s Walmart Supercenter, a 24-hour store on Pinebrook Boulevard off Third Street in southern Bend.

Officers searched the area of the store and began investigating leads but were unable to find him right away, Emerson said.

Around 12:25 a.m., 911 got another call, this time from Walmart, where it was reported that Lake had taken an Airsoft gun off a shelf and struck a shopper in the head. The store customer, a 75-year-old Bend man, and Lake were strangers, Emerson added. The victim was evaluated at the scene by medics but was not transported.

Lake fled the store while officers responded to the call, but when they arrived, they were told Lake ran back into the store and was hiding in a maintenance area.

While officers contained the scene, Lake allegedly began breaking water lines in the maintenance area to keep officers at bay, Emerson said. He eventually was detained without further incident.

Emerson said Lake had climbed toward the ceiling of the small maintenance area, where he could get to the water pipes.

“The broken water lines caused substantial flooding in Walmart and the temporary closure of the store,” Emerson said in a news release. He said they had it cleaned up quickly, and the store was open Sunday.

Kim Martin, a witness at Walmart, told NewsChannel 21 there were five police cars outside when she arrived around 12:15 a.m. and saw a police K-9 and three armed officers by the recycling center when they were walking inside.

The store was put under lockdown a few minutes later, alarms sounded and everyone was ushered outside to the parking lot, Martin said. By then, more police had arrived, along with an ambulance and fire truck.

Martin said police spent about 45 minutes telling the man to come out of a janitorial closet with his hands up. Eventually, she said, they went in with a shield and got him out, placed him in restraints and carried him to a patrol car.

Lake was booked into the Deschutes County Jail early Sunday morning on charges of first-degree robbery, menacing, unlawful use of a weapon, unlawful entry into a motor vehicle, fourth-degree assault, first-degree criminal mischief and second-degree disorderly conduct. His initial bail totaled $123,500.

Court records show Lake was indicted and arraigned last month in Bend on charges of unauthorized use of a vehicle, ID theft, fraudulent use of a credit card and second-degree theft. Those charges stem from an incident in mid-November, when he’s accused of stealing a Jeep, along with tools and other items, and using a stolen credit card to buy food and beverages. He is scheduled to enter a plea to those charges on Feb. 20.

In December, he pleaded guilty to second-degree theft, a Class A misdemeanor, in Jefferson County and was sentenced to 10 days in jail. In December 2015 in Linn County, he pleaded guilty to unauthorized use of a vehicle earlier in the year and received a 30-month prison sentence.

In March 2016 in Deschutes County, he pleaded guilty to ID theft, a Class C felony, that occurred in 2015 and received a 40-month prison term, records show. Also that year, he pleaded guilty to oxycodone possession, also a Class C felony, and received a 30-day jail term.