Siphoning gas, and stealing vehicles, businesses near Hunnell Road in Bend are seeing an uptick in crime.
“That’s where they drilled into the tank to steal the $20 worth of fuel,” said Volvo Cars of Bend General Manager, John Vierra.
Vierra says they’ve had solar panels, batteries, gas, and fuel filters stolen in the last two months, but Volvo Cars of Bend isn’t the only place being targeted.
“We’ve had a couple of vehicles, big-box trucks that were staying with us, that had their windows broken in and items taken from inside,” said Quality Inn General Manager Dee Sehgal. “We’ve had a number of folks decide they didn’t want to stay here because they are worried about the homeless population behind us.”
One guest can attest to that.
“Seeing all the people back there, we were afraid to stay here because of that and we didn’t want our cars broken into or damaged, but we can’t go anywhere because we are here for a wedding,” said Quality Inn Guest Bonita Newvine, of Eagle Point.
Bend police did not respond about suspects in these cases and the number of calls in the area.
Volvo of Bend is adding motion censored lights to its new security system and Veirra says the damages are costly.
“I would say that we’re probably sitting, not counting the cost of adding a security system, I would say that we are probably in the neighborhood of $10,000,” Veirra said.
Workers at surrounding businesses such as the Space Age gas station say they’ve had to deal with similar issues.
