Drug-Related Crime

The distribution and abuse of methamphetamine contribute to high levels of criminal activity in the HIDTA region. Increased abuse of methamphetamine fuels much of the area's property crime. Methamphetamine abusers often commit identity fraud, property theft, and burglary to obtain money to purchase the drug. Additionally, abusers frequently steal metal from buildings, homes, power companies, and construction sites to sell to scrap companies for cash to support their addiction. Metal thefts include components of bridges, ballpark bleachers, highway signs, and farm irrigation systems.

Drug-related violent crime has risen in the Oregon HIDTA region, particularly violent crime connected to marijuana production. Individuals who produce marijuana under the pretext of the Medical Marijuana Program--whether legitimately or not--are often targeted by thieves. Caucasian teenagers in Roseburg recently robbed a cannabis grower, who they subsequently beat with baseball bats. While law enforcement officers in Bend, Oregon, were in the process of seizing cannabis plants from a residence, the property owner, believing that he was being robbed, arrived with four of his friends--all carrying baseball bats and weapons. An individual in Umatilla County was killed during a shootout with cannabis growers at the McNary Wildlife Area while the individual was attempting to rob them. During the investigation of the homicide, law enforcement officers apprehended two men who emerged from the woods carrying 5-pound buckets of marijuana. Further investigation revealed a cannabis grow site nearby that contained approximately 3,000 plants, all measuring over 10 feet tall.

Compounding the problem of cannabis/marijuana-related violence, cannabis growers have begun to take malicious measures to protect their plants from thieves. Law enforcement officers in Roseburg have encountered booby traps, including nail boards, animal jaw traps, fishhooks strung on lines, and shotgun traps set with trip wires, at numerous cannabis grows in their area.

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