Best of 2016 public safety log

The sheriff’s office investigated and found out one of children fell on the dog, scaring it and others in the house.

Feb. 13

10:47 p.m. - Pendleton police received a report of “mass panic/drama that is happening on Facebook on the Real Pendleton Classified (page) regarding some guns that were stolen by some people involved in drugs.” A caller asked to speak to an officer about someone “going to get the weapons from the druggy” and said she was concerned the mob from Facebook was planning to go to “the theft/druggy’s residence” and take back the guns. The caller also said people on the Facebook page posted the serial numbers of the guns.

Feb. 27

8:16 p.m. - A Hermiston-area man told the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office he had contact on Facebook with a woman from New York who sent him an “exposed picture,” so he sent one of himself in return, and she then threatened to show his family unless he paid her money.

March 17

5:30 p.m. - A caller in Athena reported her sister’s boyfriend punched her in the chest.

5:30 p.m. - A caller in Athena reported his girlfriend’s sister punched him in the face.

April 24

An Oregon State Police trooper caught some crafty marijuana users.

The trooper at about 12:11 a.m. was on Highway 339 near Stateline Road when a gray Toyota Corolla drove up behind and passed the trooper at 56 mph in a 40 mph zone.

The officer stopped the car and had the driver, Hector Gonzalez, 26, of Walla Walla, take a sobriety test, which he failed. The trooper arrested him for driving under the influence of intoxicants (controlled substance).

The passenger also ended up under arrest. Roger DeForest Phillips, 27, of Walla Walla, had a warrant in Umatilla County for skipping out an a court appearance for traffic crimes,

The troopers also searched the car and found marijuana and an apple “that was converted into a marijuana pipe.”

The driver ended up walking away with a citation, but police put the passenger into the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton.

July 16

11:15 p.m. - A resident of Southwest 19th Street, Pendleton, did some quick thinking to keep a woman calm until a crisis team could be dispatched to his house. The caller said the woman showed up at his door and seemed to be “out of it” and very nervous. While talking to dispatch on his phone he reassured the woman that he was asking his brother to come over and bring some beer, and that “his brother could just come in without knocking.”

Aug. 17

9:27 p.m. - In a case of “at least it wasn’t a real bullet,” a guy and some of his friends showed up at the emergency department at St. Anthony Hospital, Pendleton. He had an Airsoft pellet gun wound to his right index finger from friends trying to shoot a cigarette out his hand.

Aug. 23

A woman rushing to meet her husband at the Umatilla County Jail, Pendleton, might be able to see him for awhile.

An Oregon State Police trooper at 1:10 p.m. stopped a Toyota Tacoma for speeding on Westgate Drive, Pendleton. The driver, Amanda Renee Carper, 29, of Wallowa, said she was in a hurry for a meeting with her husband, an inmate at the jail. But Carper did not have a driver’s license, according to the report from state police, and a second trooper arrived and said he saw her shove something under her seat before she stopped.

The first trooper asked Carper to step out of the SUV and saw her try to hide a methamphetamine pipe. State police reported she told troopers where to find more meth in the vehicle.

The trooper arrested Carper and booked her into the jail for possession of meth.

Sept 9

4:59 p.m. - A man told Pendleton police he wanted to press charges after a male relative of his girlfriend’s husband — yes, girlfriend’s husband ­ — pushed him around and threatened him.

Sept. 27

9 p.m. - A Pilot Rock property owner reported the theft of her 468-pound block of petrified wood from her yard on Southwest Sixth Street. Police Chief Bill Caldera said the woman reported she got the block from Arizona years ago and placed it in the front yard. She had not been to the house for a while but sent people on Sept. 17 to care for the yard, and they noticed the block was gone.

Neighbors did not seem to notice when it left, Caldera said, and the petrified wood goes for about $8 per pound for a total value of $3,744.

Oct. 7

12:05 p.m. A 9-1-1 caller in Pendleton reported he needed emergency mental health help, then hung up. He called back and said he was fine but “may have smoked too much of something.” He said he would ask family to give him a ride, did not need an officer or an ambulance and would “chill out and relax.”

Nov. 14

8:38 p.m. - Some pig — some 400- to 500-pound pig, that is — roamed around houses and yards on Country Garden Road, Irrigon. The Morrow County Sheriff’s Office did not find the fine member of family Suidae.

Dec. 16

12:59 p.m. - Another man’s identity prevented a Hermiston man from buying a gun. At least for a while.

The local 27-year-old went to the Hermiston Bi-Mart to buy a gun until a background check reported he was in a mental heath institution in Alabama, which disqualified him from buying the gun.

Oregon State Police responded, and a trooper found out the buyer and the Alabama resident shared the same spellings on their first, middle and last names and shared same date of birth. Police concluded the person trying to buy the gun was not the person in a mental institution.