House cleaner, two others arrested in burglary of NW Bend home caught on camera; pair of raids recover loot

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- A house cleaner and two other Bend residents have been arrested on burglary and theft charges, accused of stealing about $1,200 worth of items from a northwest Bend rental home, police said Thursday.

On Saturday, Nov. 29, Bend Police responded to a report of a burglary in the 1000 block of NW Baltimore Avenue, Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller said.

The homeowners returned from a trip out of town and "discovered that a variety of their belongings were missing," Miller said.

"The homeowners rent their house out when they leave town, and the company that manages the rentals hired a third-party cleaner to come in after the visitors departed," she said. 

The homeowners reviewed their surveillance video footage and saw the house cleaner arrive in the early afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 16. About two hours later, two other people arrived and entered the home.

The three left about 10 minutes later "with a large number of items in garbage bags," Miller said.

The missing items were estimated at about $1,200 in value.   

Miller said an investigation determined the cleaner was 36-year-old Bend resident Heather Cordier. The two other suspects were identified 41-year-old Stephanie Lafountaine and 47-year-old Stephen Rechner, also of Bend.  

On Tuesday of this week, between 12:40 p.m. and 3:15 p.m., Bend Police patrol officers, detectives and members of the Central Oregon Emergency Response Team raided two residences and recovered items connected to the burglary at both places, Miller said.

Search warrants were executed at an apartment in the 1700 block of SE Tempest Driver and another residence in the 600 block of NE Bellevue Drive. Officers were assisted by drone operators, negotiators and community service officers.  

Cordier, LaFountaine and Rechner were taken into custody, as was Sergei Newlin, 33, also of Bend, who had an unrelated warrant for a parole violation, Miller said. All four were booked into the Deschutes County Jail.   

Cordier, Rechner and Lafountaine each face first-degree charges of burglary, theft and criminal trespass.

Miller told KTVZ News she could not provide the surveillance video or images from it, as it is evidence in an ongoing investigation.

Asked if this type of crime would prompt any tips for the public to be aware of, Miller told us: "It's tricky, because this was a third-party company that hired a cleaning person."

"Of course, we would always recommend that people do their due diligence when hiring someone who will have access to their home," she said. "In this case, that may not apply, because these people were using a company that then hired someone who committed these crimes."

KTVZ News also asked Miller if this was believed to be an isolated incident.

"We do not have any indication that there are other victims," she told us. "But our investigation is ongoing, and if members of the public believe something similar has happened to them, we’d like to hear about it."