The Crook County Sheriff’s Office announced today the arrest of a 16-year-old boy who is accused of raping and sodomizing a girl under the age of 12. According to Detective Sergeant Travis Jurgens, the boy was taken into custody on Sunday night shortly after 10:30 p.m. following an investigation into allegations that he assaulted a Prineville girl. Although few details were released concerning the ongoing investigation due to confidentiality concerning juveniles and victims, the sergeant ... [full story]

A fire that investigators believe began when a 16-year-old Prineville juvenile was lighting fireworks from atop the Ochoco Viewpoint west of Prineville on Saturday spread to one-acre before it was contained. Emergency personnel from Crook County Fire and Rescue and the sheriff’s office could see the fire from as far away as Prineville when they responded to the area off Highway 126 about 9:40 p.m., June 30, Sgt. Russ Wright reported. Apparently the teen was lighting fireworks ... [full story]

Congressman to hold roundtable talks with Meth Action Coalition Congressman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) will visit Central Oregon for a speaking engagement with the Redmond Rotary and for a roundtable meeting with the Deschutes County Meth Action Coalition (MAC). Congressman Walden will be in the midst of a District swing during the Independence Day District Work Period. On Tuesday, July 3 he will be in southern Oregon to conduct town halls in Medford and Grants Pass. ... [full story]

La Pine Rural Fire Protection District announced Thursday that it will cut two full-time and one half-time positions and reduce services beginning July 1, 2007. The La Pine Fire District Board of Directors gave final approval in mid June to a plan aimed at recovering from funding challenges caused by defeat of the local option levy. After repeated attempts to pass a Local Option levy to support staffing, the loss of budget dollars has prompted ... [full story]

An investigation into a single-vehicle crash in southwest Redmond Tuesday that sent a 16-year-old Redmond driver to the hospital by air ambulance is continuing, deputies reported. According to Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies Sgt. Scott Beard and Merlin Toney, a 1997 Isuzu Trooper was traveling north on SW Helmboltz Drive at a high rate of speed when it left the road on the east shoulder near SW Harvest Avenue. The 16-year-old female driver overcorrected, swerved back ... [full story]

A 26-year old Redmond man was transported to the hospital by helicopter after he was rescued from the bottom of a steep 200-foot embankment leading down to the Clackamas River east of Estacada on Monday evening, deputies reported. Danny Russell Crane was negotiating the side of a steep bank near milepost 24 of Highway 224 with a friend in order to get down to the Clackamas River below when the earth collapsed beneath their feet ... [full story]

One person has died and another is in reportedly critical condition following a crash on a dirt road in north La Pine last evening when the driver lost control and rolled the pickup several times, deputies reported. Deschutes County Sheriff’s deputies responded to the report of a rollover crash on S. Huntington Road near Riverview Drive about 8:30 p.m. on June 25, and found both occupants of a 1994 Ford Ranger pickup had been ejected ... [full story]

Eleven of 14 licensed businesses tested in Crook and Jefferson counties refused to sell alcohol to a minor, passing a recent compliance check conducted by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. These liquor businesses said "no" to the OLCC minor who tried to buy alcohol: Madras – The Rainbow Market, Warm Springs Star Route; Powell Butte -- Powell Butte Country Store, 13673 SW Hwy. 126; Prineville – Barney’s Vineyards, 386 N. Main St.; Club Pioneer, 1851 ... [full story]

A 37-year old Redmond man was arrested Tuesday afternoon on kidnapping, rape, and other alleged sex crimes against a 12-year-old girl, police reported.   Ricardo Rodriguez-Ruiz, DCJ photo Ricardo Rodriguez-Ruiz was taken into custody and lodged in the Deschutes County Jail following an interview with Redmond Police detectives.  He is charged with first-degree rape, kidnapping, sodomy, sex abuse, and unlawful sexual penetration; in addition to sexual misconduct, Captain Al Maich said. About 5:30 p.m. Redmond Police officers ... [full story]

A natural gas line severed by a construction crew’s backhoe working to install a light pole forced closure of Highway 97 for about 15 minutes Tuesday afternoon, officials reported.  Redmond Fire and Rescue monitored the air when the leak was discovered about 1:20 p.m., and found that gas was being vented into an adjacent building under construction and gas levels were approaching explosive limits on the highway. In order to avoid possible ignition triggered by passing ... [full story]

Crook County Sheriff’s deputies searching for a man who had fled the scene of a reported domestic dispute south of Prineville on Sunday happened to come across an unrelated marijuana growing operation in the woods nearby, resulting in a second arrest.   Eric Sold (left), and Donald Lee Jenkins (right) - CCJ photosDeputies responded to the report of a domestic altercation at a residence on SE Winchester Loop shortly after 5 p.m. on June 17 only ... [full story]

A 74-year old Redman man was killed yesterday afternoon when the dump truck he was driving crossed the centerline of Highway 126 near Redmond and crashed nearly head-on into a large utility truck, police reported.   The driver of the dump truck (above) was killed when his vehicle crossed the centerline of Highway 126 near Redmond and struck a utility truck (below) nearly head-on - OSP photos   Frank Howard Ellis, 74, was traveling east on Highway 126 about ... [full story]

A 20-year old La Pine man was arrested Saturday when a raid on his home and vehicle resulted in the seizure of two homemade bombs, plus schematics and bomb-making parts, deputies reported.   Daniel Jay Cole - DCJ photo Daniel Jay Cole of 54688 Wolf Street, La Pine, was lodged in the Deschutes County Jail after being taken into custody without incident, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Lt. Kevin Dizney with the criminal detective division reported in a news release. Detectives ... [full story]