Prineville, Ore. – Three juveniles have been arrested in connection with a burglary and theft at the Crook County Fair last week, Prineville Police announced Friday.
The Prineville Review originally broke that story last week, along with reporting from our news partners at KTVZ.
The incident began in the early morning hours of August 8th, when a security guard at the fairgrounds spotted unidentified individuals in the vendor booth area. When he attempted to contact them, they fled on foot. The guard chased one suspect but was unable to catch them and was injured during the pursuit.
Officers responded at approximately 3:34 a.m., but the suspects were gone by the time police arrived. Later that morning, as vendors returned to their booths, officers discovered that at least six vendors had been victimized overnight, with stolen items valued at nearly $2,000.
Prineville Police Chief Jeff Profio told the Prineville Review that detectives and patrol officers quickly began follow-up work, ultimately identifying three juveniles believed to be involved.
“I do want to give props to our detectives and patrol officers who did great follow-up on the case,” Profio said. “They were able to identify the three juveniles involved, and we got a search warrant signed, we got an arrest warrants signed.”
On August 14th, around noon, officers served the search warrant at a residence on SE Elm Street in Prineville, according to Profio. Two of the juvenile suspects were found at that location, while the third was apprehended at another location. Multiple stolen items were recovered during the search.
All three juveniles were lodged on charges of second-degree burglary and first-degree theft. Their names are being withheld due to their age. The case remains under active investigation, and no further details have been released.
Crook County Fairgrounds Manager Casey Daley told the Prineville Review that he was relieved to hear about the breakthrough with the case.
“This is going to be a great relief to the vendors and the carnival; they were all victims of this theft. We had several vendors that lost merchandise along with the carnival,” Daley said. “I’m grateful for the Prineville Police Department and all their hard work. I am overjoyed that folks are going to start getting some of their things back.”
This is a developing story that we will continue to follow.
Note: This story was updated after initial publication to include links to our video interviews with Prineville’s Police Chief and the Crook County Fairgrounds Manager.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject mater expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
