RV left by Buckingham Elementary prompts ‘Secure’ status, owned by felon ordered to have no contact with minors

(Update: Adding man's arrest, booking into jail)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A motor home parked on Bend-La Pine Schools property near Buckingham Elementary School prompted a four-hour precautionary “secure” status Friday and belongs to a man who pleaded guilty last year to custodial interference and whose probation conditions include no contact with minors, authorities said.

Parents and others were advised in a text alert at 8:40 a.m. of the Secure status while authorities were investigating a “suspicious vehicle parked near the school.”

“Students are safe inside the building,” the BLConnect notice added. An all-clear was sent nearly four hours later.

School district spokesman Scott Maben said an RV was found on school district property in the undeveloped area where the school borders Big Sky Park to the south off Hamby Road.

"Did someone abandon it there? We don't know," he said shortly after the alert was sent. "There's no emergency. It's just a precaution. We just don't know why it's there, and we want to make sure students are safe. They (deputies) just advised keeping students indoors for now, which is what a ‘Secure’ is – not a lockdown.”

Deschutes County sheriff’s Sgt. Shawn Heierman said the man parked the motor home “in a place where he’s not supposed to be. They didn’t know if he went in the school or where he was,” as no one answered the door.

Deputies eventually determined a general location for the man, who recently was released from jail. Heierman said the man did much the same with the RV at another school a couple of days earlier and had been kicked off that property.

Heierman said the man told deputies he was returning to the scene where the RV was left. The sergeant said he would face a new charge of violating probation.

Jail records show the man was booked into the county jail late Friday night and was being held without bail pending sanction for a probation violation.

Court records show the 57-year-old pleaded guilty last year to second-degree custodial interference, a Class C felony, admitting that he kept the minor from the Oregon Department of Human Services between April and July of 2022. He also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of second-degree criminal mischief, for damaging a window belonging to the city of Bend.

His sentence of 20 days in jail and two years’ probation included that he have no contact with anyone under age 18 without prior written permission of the probation officer.

Last summer, he pleaded guilty to second-degree theft, a misdemeanor, for stealing a shopping cart from Trader Joe’s, and was given a two-day jail term, with credit for time served.

Late last month, the man pleaded guilty to misdemeanor third-degree escape, having escaped from custody on April 4. He was sentenced last week to a 30-day jail term, with credit for time served.