Drug-dealing charges dropped against Bend man after OSP lab test finds agents misidentified ketamine as cocaine

(Update: Drug charges dismissed but new indictment will be sought)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Charges have been dropped against a Bend man accused of selling a variety of illegal “party drugs” from his home near a school on Bend’s Westside after Oregon State Police lab tests determined one of the seized drugs was misidentified. But a prosecutor said a new indictment will be sought.

A traffic stop last month had led to the arrest of North O'Connor, 42, accused of selling drugs from his home, located less than 1,000 feet from Westside Village Magnet at Kingston School.

However, Deschutes County Deputy District Attorney Andrew Doyle told NewsChannel 21 Friday the substance identified as cocaine in the grand jury’s indictment “came back as ketamine, not cocaine.”

“As it was indicted by a prior grand jury, it will need to be re-indicted on new charges by a new panel,” Doyle said. He expects the charges will involve distribution of a Schedule 3 controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a school.

"When law enforcement seizes drugs, they use what is called a 'presumptive test' to initially test in the field," the prosecutor explained. "These presumptive tests are not usually admissible in jury trials," though he noted that ORS 475.235 allows a presumptive test to be presented to grand juries.

"OSP lab must test it using much more detailed and accurate testing. In this case, that is what occurred," Doyle said. "There is still cocaine, just the large quantity bags of white powder which one presumptive test said was cocaine tested by OSP on their equipment as ketamine. 

"That necessitates a change in charges that cannot be done by simple oral amendment, but instead must be entirely resubmitted to a new grand jury panel," Doyle explained.

"Even though the bulk quantity tested as ketamine, that is still a controlled substance and still illegal to deal," he said. "So the government still intends on prosecuting Mr. O’Connor, but this is exactly why we have OSP lab testing in place."

Circuit Judge Beth Bagley signed the dismissal order on Friday, court records show, and a jail official said he had been released.

At a pre-trial release hearing a week ago, Circuit Judge Raymond Crutchley reduced security to $250,000 and laid out conditions of O'Connor's release, including living with his mother under third-party supervision in Gates, Oregon, wearing a GPS monitoring device and under a nighttime curfew.

Dismissal of the initial charges means that at least for now, the conditions would not be in place, Doyle confirmed.

Earlier info: 

The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team had said its investigation found that North O’Connor was selling the drugs from his home in the 1300 block of Northwest Lexington Avenue, located within 1,000 feet of the school, which Lieutenant Mike Landolt said “made this case a priority for our team.”

CODE Team members pulled over a vehicle driven by O’Connor in a traffic stop around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 24 in the area of Northeast Fourth Street and Greenwood Avenue, Landolt said. He was taken into custody on probable cause of distributing cocaine.

CODE detectives requested and were granted a search warrant for O’Connor, his vehicle and his home.

The detectives, assisted by the Central Oregon Emergency Response (CERT) Team and Bend Police, served the search warrant around 8:30 p.m. that night. Landolt said the searches turned up cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), ketamine, marijuana, psilocybin mushrooms, steroids, cash, packaging material, scales and drug paraphernalia.

O’Connor was booked into the county jail, where he was initially held on $500,000 bail. He was arraigned by video from jail on four felony charges and is scheduled to enter a plea on Nov. 22, court records show.

O'Connor was indicted Oct. 30 on one Class A felony – cocaine delivery with 1,000 feet of a school – and three Class C felonies: possessing a “substantial quantity” (over 10 grams) of cocaine, attempted illegal delivery of marijuana and marijuana possession (over 128 ounces).

"This is an ongoing investigation," Landolt said at the time, and "more charges and more arrests may be conducted."