Second Bend-area raid turns up more drugs, cash allegedly tied to arrested, jailed fentanyl trafficking suspect

(Update: Second raid turns up drugs, large amount of cash)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – An alleged fentanyl trafficker arrested last week in a traffic stop and a raid on his trailer near the Bend Airport faces additional charges after a second raid turned up more fake pills containing fentanyl and a large amount of U.S. and Australian cash, authorities said Tuesday.

Detectives with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit concluded a long-term investigation last Wednesday with the arrest of Jeffrey Jack Cluff, 54, believed to be the leader of a local drug trafficking organization. The initial raid turned up substantial quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine, officials said.

As part of the ongoing investigation, another search warrant was served Saturday afternoon in Bend at a separate, undisclosed location that Cluff allegedly was associated with, Wall said Tuesday.

That raid turned up another commercial quantity of counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, along with nearly $37,000 in U.S. cash and over $2,000 in Australian currency.

Wall said narcotics detectives believe the funds were “proceeds from illegal drug sales and seized the cash as fruits of the crimes of Cluff’s drug operation,” Wall said.

The Street Crimes Unit again thanked the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team for their assistance in the investigation.

SCU detectives had identified Cluff as a fentanyl trafficker in Deschutes County through several separate investigations indicating that Cluff was a primary source of supply for localized fentanyl distribution, Wall said last week.

The DCSO detectives, working with detectives from the CODE Team, developed enough investigative information to secure a search warrant for Cluff’s residence, near the Bend Airport, Wall said.

Drug detectives coordinated a traffic stop with an assist from the DCSO's Community Action Target Team (CATT), resulting in Cluff's arrest and seizure of a "criminal amount of powder fentanyl packaged for delivery," the sergeant said in the initial news release.

Narcotics detectives then executed a search warrant at Cluff’s trailer and seized a commercial quantity of counterfeit oxycodone pills containing fentanyl, a commercial quantity of suspected powdered fentanyl and a commercial quantity of methamphetamine.

As a result of the investigation, investigators said they learned Cluff maintained a connection with a drug trafficking organization in the Portland area, which served as his source of fentanyl supply.

Wall said Cluff would purchase large quantities of fentanyl and methamphetamine from this source and redistribute the drugs to local dealers in Deschutes County, as well as direct distribution to local users. 

The SCU detectives' investigative information shows Cluff allegedly was operating in the capacity of the head of this localized drug trafficking organization.

Cluff was arrested and lodged at the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Adult Jail on charges of drug possession and delivery, as well as a felony warrant for failure to register as a sex offender. Cluff remained jailed Thursday, held without bail on one of the drug charges, records show.

Cluff was arraigned last Thursday on two initial Class C felony charges of possessing "substantial quantities" of fentanyl and meth. He received a court-appointed attorney and is due back in court this Thursday for arraignment on an expected grand jury indictment, court records show. His current bail is set at $250,000, according to jail records.

District Attorney Steve Gunnels said Tuesday, "We will present additional charges to the grand jury" before Thursday's return to court.

He also was arraigned last Thursday on another Class C felony, having been cited last month on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender, and is scheduled to enter a plea on that as well.

Nearly a year ago, when living in Redmond, Cluff was one of three people indicted on over a dozen charges, including robbery, burglary, theft and menacing, the court records show. He pleaded not guilty, and a settlement conference has been set for next month.