Update Feb. 9: Suspect identified in Camp's Plumbing rig stolen in TD
This Camp’s Plumbing rig got taken for a ride after it was stolen this afternoon, Feb. 8 in The Dalles. This is the before picture. Photo by Cyndi Camp
Here is the after picture. It was recovered about 12 miles east of Pendleton after it rammed into a semi and drove over spike strips in an attempt to elude police. Photo provided by Cyndi Camp
Kurt Ness
Update on Feb. 9 at 11 a.m.: Kurt Leroy Ness, 54, was arrested in connection with the theft of a Camp’s Plumbing pickup at the St. Vincent de Paul Thrift Store on Wednesday, Feb. 8 at about 1:30 p.m.
He was booked at the Umatilla County Jail at 6:57 p.m. on Wednesday evening.
Ness’s identification lists him as a Goldendale resident.
Here is the inmate listing for Ness listed on the Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office website.
Cyndi Camp
By Tom Peterson with reporting from Elk Horn Media
Cyndi Camp of Camp’s Plumbing in The Dalles got the strangest call today, Feb. 8.
A person who was having lunch at Clock Tower Ales with her 8-year-old son was on the line.
And she was looking across the block toward Napa Auto Parts on Second Street and saw a Camp’s Plumbing pickup.
But something was out of place.
“She said, ‘this may sound a little weird, but did one of your rigs get stolen,’” Camp said.
“I don’t think so,” came Cyndi’s response.
The caller told Camp that she saw a guy get out of a Camp’s Plumbing pickup.
“She watched the guy get in the truck and he had a chihuahua, and then he blew through a red light by the post office,” Cyndi said. “She said the guy did not look like a guy you would have hired, and neither running red lights nor a dog.”
Cyndi said she immediately called her husband Pat who was working on a gas line on the roof of St. Vincent De Paul Thrift Store on Ninth Street.
“You have the truck with you, right,” Cyndi asked him.
Pat looked over the edge of the roof to where the pickup was parked.
It was gone.
Cyndi immediately called the police and reported the theft. It was about 1:15 p.m. And she texted everyone she knew with a photo of the pickup and an alert to be on the lookout.
Within minutes police were at Cyndi’s home and a report of the theft was spreading around the community as well as up Interstate 84.
The following, in italics, was reported by Elkhorn Media:
Oregon State Police received multiple driving complaints about the pickup truck traveling eastbound on I-84.
Police first tried to stop the vehicle near milepost 202, just west of Pendleton, when the vehicle was reported to be moving at about 100 miles per hour. At milepost 216, The Wildhorse exit, Tribal Police put out spike strips with the intent of puncturing the tires of the pickup.
One of the tires was punctured, but the vehicle proceeded on I-84 eastbound, heading up Cabbage Hill.
At milepost 220.5, 12 miles east of Pendleton, the vehicle rammed into a semi-truck subsequently ending the chase.
It is anticipated that the driver, who has not been named at this time, is suspected of driving under the influence of intoxicants.
He was taken to St. Anthony Hospital in Pendleton. OSP reports that once he is processed at the hospital, he will be transported to Umatilla County Jail.
Back in The Dalles, Cyndi said she got the call from a local dispatcher that the pickup had been wrecked but recovered around 3:30 p.m.
“I know that the tires are damaged, which were brand new,” she said. “It hit the spike strips and headed up Cabbage Hill and then hit the semi,” she said. “There was passenger side damage.”
She said the tow truck driver told her the 2015 Silverado might be totaled.
“Honestly, nobody got hurt with the dude going 100 or more,” she said. “That is insane. He could have hit so many people.”
The other silver lining?
Camp said it was that phone call alerting her to the theft.
It ended up being a teachable moment for a mother and her son.
Cyndi said the son asked his mom, mom how did you know to call Cyndi. The mother told her son, “you know, if you see something that is not right, you have to listen to your gut.”
In the meantime, Camp’s Plumbing has a spare rig to use until the insurance is figured out.
“I’m laughing now but when the police interviewed me, I was in tears because I was so mad,” she said. “It’s just happening more and more,” she said of theft. “It is unnerving .”
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