SE Bend couple arrested in drug raid; fentanyl hidden in peanut butter; fake check scam busted – KTVZ

‘Less-lethal explosive devices’ (flash-bangs) were used to disorient pair
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Drug agents and a SWAT team used two “flash-bang” devices to disorient and arrest an alleged drug-trafficking couple as they arrived at their southeast Bend home Friday morning – one carrying a grocery bag of drugs wrapped in peanut butter, likely to avoid detection by drug-sniffing dogs, officials said.
The raid also turned up a fake check scam, using info from mail stolen around the Bend area, they said.
The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement Team, working with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Street Crimes Unit, wrapped up a lengthy investigation with the arrest of a 38-year-old man and his 27-year-old wife as they arrived home in the 61000 block of Ferguson Court, Sgt. Kent Vander Kamp said.
Drug agents’ investigation found that the couple had been importing large quantities of fentanyl pills and powder from the Portland area. CODE detectives applied for and obtained a search warrant for the couple’s home and car.
Concluding a multi-day, multi-county ground and aerial surveillance operation, the search warrant was executed and the couple was contacted as they returned home around 10:30 a.m. Friday, Vander Kamp said.
Due to the man’s violent criminal history, and his history of carrying weapons, CODE detectives and the DCSO SWAT Team members used two “less-lethal explosive devices to temporarily disorient” the pair during their arrest, the sergeant said.
No one was injured, but the couple were taken to St. Charles Bend “to evaluate untreated medical conditions,” Vander Kamp said in a news release. They were later discharged from the hospital and taken to the county jail, where both were lodged on various drug charges involving fentanyl and methamphetamine, as well as first-degree forgery and aggravated identity theft.
When arrested, the man was carrying “a bag of groceries containing an unusual amount of commercial-sized peanut butter,” the sergeant said. Detectives found a “significant commercial quantity of fentanyl powder and fraudulent Oxycodone tablets (made of fentanyl) wrapped in plastic and concealed within the peanut butter.”
“This was likely done to mask odors and prevent drug detection dogs or detectives from finding the fentanyl,” Vander Kamp said.
A search of the home also turned up stolen mail from around the Bend area, he said. The couple also allegedly were operating a fake check scam from their home, printing fake checks using real, stolen bank account information, often written in their own or conspirators’ names, then cashed at the account-holder’s bank. As a result, the victims often don’t find the loss for many days – and it’s often not recoverable
The couple’s bail was “enhanced,” Vander Kamp said, due to the commercial quantities of drugs found in their possession. “This investigation is ongoing, and additional arrests are forthcoming.”
Barney is the digital content director for NewsChannel 21. Learn more about Barney here.
Names please. The public needs to be made aware of people like this. No reason not to name them.
Mug shots too please.
State law as of 1/1 has sharply reduced release of booking photos.
https://www.registerguard.com/story/news/crime/2021/12/30/oregon-law-mugshot-release-2022-faq-booking-photo/9046406002/
That wasn’t the original question. KTVZ doesn’t print names of criminals, including sex offenders and dirty drug dealers and they have no logic behind that rule. Go to Central Oregon Daily or the Deschutes County Jail log and you can look them up. Mugshots are harder to find but you can search and find them on social media.
That’s right. Our company has a policy. Of course some information we don’t provide is available elsewhere. They have their policies, we have ours. And “new” mugshots will be much harder to find from now on. Considering the tenor of anonymous commenters here and on Facebook, I can understand why the state law was changed to severely restrict their release. People can be, and are cruel, and mugshots are taken before formal charges are filed, which can be more, less or none. And they follow you forever. There are processes to expunge convictions, but nothing unrings the social media bell.
Well said Barney, thanks for your patience.
Thank you.
Do not understand why people still do not understand a simple fact, it is called the criminal justice system because it is JUSTICE FOR CRIMINALS. Victims and soon to be victims do not mean squat to the politicians who are responsible for making laws, let alone good laws to benefit the law abiding folks.
Sorry, this police takedown did not lower itself to misdemeanor conviction of a singular bias event which gets someone named on KTVZ. A convict with history of violence and carrying weapons while stealing mail from an unknown number of victims and selling of lethal illegal narcotics which has an extremely high potential to kill the drug user will remain un-named (probably even when convicted).
Scooter Band Do you not find it sad, that the media now protects the rights of criminals more than it does the victims? Signs of the times. Satan and his influence are so greatly present these days, and yet many cannot see it. We can see it by those who try to protect the anonymity of the criminals, and whose sensibilities are hurt by the concerned public expecting the truth so we can protect our families or others from becoming victims at the hands of these criminals. ” “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.” (Amos 5:14-15) How can you hate the evil and love the good if you refuse to judge? You can’t. You are SINNING when you refuse to judge. We make judgments every day to navigate our lives to keep us and our families safe.
Our generation is well described in Isaiah 59:8: “The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” People have refused to judge, so there is no peace.” Sounds very much like what is going on in the world these days.
The way anonymous commenters or even those with names in Facebook mobs judge online is yards, leagues and miles beyond the court system you no doubt believe in.
To conflate the two is very unfortunate. The “court of public opinion” has never been so ruthless and uncaring. Feel free to defend them, when I read the output that proves what I say 1,000s of times a week.
You take the term judgement out of context. The Bible, the word of God, states “Judge not or you shall yourself be judged. The word judge, in biblical context, means to condemn. As in “condemn not or you shall surely be condemned yourself. In the words of Jesus, “love those around you”. “Love everyone”. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” Evil has no power over us other than our own ability to be taken in by Satan’s lies and deceit. The power to turn from evil is within us as well. Yet some lack the moral fortitude to turn to a higher calling.
Enough about your dog
Read the Bulletin
great job – get these creeps out of society and in jail where they belong.
Great job CODE and SWAT. These are bad hombre’s hopefully Hummel doesn’t take pity on them.
“This is likely done to masks orders…”
Who’s orders? Is brown ordering masks again?
Typo fixed, thank you.
The beer spa guy had his name and face splashed across KTVZ for a few weeks and had his charges dropped. Most likely ruining his business. Drug raid arrestees with enough fentanyl to kill half of Prineville remain protected by KTVZ. Priorities.
Just a reminder: And he then was re-arrested.
https://ktvz.com/news/2021/09/08/sisters-spa-owner-cleared-earlier-of-abuse-assault-charges-indicted-after-10-more-alleged-victims-come-forward/
Every case is different.
Barney you just can’t quit the childish behavior can you? Pretty pathetic to see an old man acts less mature than my 11 year old daughter. Maybe some day you will find some sort of “professionalism” that is 100% absent in progressive journalist.
I stated a key, relevant fact. Too bad that brings such an attack. Many kind people praise my words and actions, imperfect and human as they are.
Many kind people praise my words and actions,
But nothing proven yet this spa guys name and business has been run through the mud. On the other hand these druggie violent thieves identities remail hidden…
joe_bidens_nose the media is selective of which people they choose to give anonymity and whom they wish to destroy. Of course it is under the excuse that ” every case it different.” Again, the media has shown that they protect the criminal’s rights more than they do the victimize.
And completely untrue judgements like that of us help prove why we have to play that role for others, when necessary.
So I pretty much summed it up answering ex dem. Either was a reiteration and a double post was avoided cause not sure how violated the tos. Mystery like why is there no way to contact anyone at a huge conglomerate like Facebook or Instagram?
Can’t name them, can’t show their mugshot. Criminals have more rights than the citizens, and probably out on bail before you know it. Liberalism is a disease.
Unfair social media attacks and judgments are a bigger disease, and this is one step to combat them.
Barney Lerten: ” I will post part of what I posted earlier, even though I have no doubt my post will not make it on the thread. “Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken. Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.”
Our generation is well described in Isaiah 59:8: “The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.” People have refused to judge, so there is no peace. Tell me Barney, how do you navigate your way through life and protect your family from harm, if you cannot judge right from wrong, good from evil? I think you and KTVZ are selective of the criminals you wish to give anonymity to. You certainly did not do that with the spa beer man. KTVZ, in essence, destroyed a man’s business even though he was exonerated. You did not wait to see whether he would be convicted, instead for KTVZ, for what ever reason, this man was guilty even before he went to trial, hence why you slapped his picture for weeks on KTVZ. Please do not give the poor excuse every case is different. That is pretty lame. Oh I know you will not post this, because it hurts your sensibilities, but I know you will read it. The fact that laws are being made to protect the criminal much more than the victim, is a signs of the times and decay of morality.
Among the factors you ignore, to spend your Sunday trashing the privately operated site you get to post comments on, are ones in which authorities are looking for other possible victims of someone accused of crimes.
Are you accusing police of “finding someone guilty” by releasing their name as they regularly do? No, but the media is an easy enemy/blame target. (Along with police, etc. etc.)
Yes every case IS different. And that’s not an excuse, of course — it’s a reason to judge them individually, on those and other factors. That’s the responsible course.
And then there’s “Judge not…” https://daily.jstor.org/nderstanding-a-misunderstood-bible-verse
I’ve proven the “you won’t post this” folks wrong many times, and of course in many others they were right. It’s a sad “dare” that says way more about the accuser’s mindset and priorities than anything about the intended target.
The term “righteous” merely means to do the right thing. It is just another word for integrity. To do the right thing, even when no one is looking. Because there is always someone watching.
Truth be told, there is far too much judgement in this world today. We are all judged for the simplest ideas. Our personal ideologies are presently judged as by those of different ideologies. We are judged and deemed unworthy by whether or not we believe in the vaccine over early treatments. We are judged by our own opposing political leaders. We are judged by those who vote opposingly to our votes. We are judged for our social classes. People make rash judgements over the homeless population. You sit and cast multiple judgements with the stoke of your keyboard. It is not our place to judge (condemn) only our place to discern right from wrong.
Leave all the bible bashing out and more people will read your posts.
Enough about your dog
A waste of good peanut butter.
Just say’in.
Kinda funny too, that they hid it there probably to hide it from drug-sniffing dogs…and dogs love peanut butter. Every dog I’ve been around is pretty “alert” when I have the peanut butter out.
LOL! Hope these dirt bags get some serious time!
There’s a huge demand for what they’re selling for some reason. However we’re caught up in catching people like this two at a time and ignoring the real problem.
They will probably get probation for the drugs, the felon in possession will be dismissed, but the Postal service will get them for mail theft and check fraud. They might do a few years in the slammer.
Turns out that KTVZ published his name and picture on May 9th, 2020 for another criminal episode. I wonder if he ever went to trial for any of these charges. Maybe they let him go because they were still investigating the drug deal.
Policies evolve over time. Like people, and businesses, and life.
The joke is on them – most dogs love peanut butter!
Yep, hahahaha.
Sadly, there must be a market for these drugs here in Central Oregon, or they would not be here.Signs of the times and decay of morality.
@rossp: sign of the times? Have you been living under a rock. The opioid epidemic has been raging strong for well over 2 decades now. I’d say it started in the early 2000s in Appalachia because of Purdue pharma. The sacker family has blood on their hands. Anyone who blames only the user, clearly hasn’t looked into how this all began. I also think this has contributed greatly to homelessness as well. I hope these 2 stayed locked up for years. No regard for human lives.
Lots of folks with LOTS of free time that can use different sources of information for their noisiness. It’s like dealing with little kids who ask and make the same comments with Barney being a babysitter.
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