Prineville Police cited a woman for trespassing at the Crook County Fairgrounds Sunday after she was repeatedly asked to leave for not wearing a mask at a barrel racing event.
Cpt. Larry Seymour said officers responded a second time to the fairgrounds just before 2 p.m. Saturday in regards to a woman who was asked to leave the property, did so, but then returned.
Police responded and officers spoke to everyone involved, including the woman in question, her husband, and the security guard who had authorization to trespass attendees by Crook County Fairgrounds Management, Seymour said.
He said officers did their best to encourage the woman to leave on her own, but she refused and told the officers to take her to jail.
Officers explained that she had to leave the property for the remainder of this event and she again refused. Both officers encouraged the woman to leave, but she continued to refuse, Seymour said.
After all attempts to resolve the incident failed, officers placed the woman in handcuffs and took her off fairgrounds property for second-degree criminal trespassing.
Once in custody and exiting fairgrounds property, officers asked her one more time if she would be willing to stay off Crook County Fairgrounds property and she then said she would.
Arrangements were made to get her vehicle off fairgrounds property, and she was released with a citation.
The woman’s name was not released and the department doesn’t normally issue press releases for class C misdemeanor arrests.
This is a modified release in an attempt to clear up some non-factual FB posts that have been shared, and to answer media requests, Seymour said.
Seymour said PPD routinely responds to local businesses when a patron is disorderly, not abiding by basic rules/laws, or violating OLCC or OSHA rules.
Seymour said in this case police verified the security officer was asked by the fairgrounds manager to have this woman trespassed.
The original reason for the trespass by the security staff was due to the woman not following the rules enacted for this event on the fairgrounds property.
The rule in question was her not wearing a mask and/or partially wearing a mask, which was a violation of the rules agreed to by the Crook County Fairgrounds and the Central Oregon Barrel Racing Association.
The event organizer, Central Oregon Barrel Racing Association, published a FB post reminding everyone to follow the rules of the fairgrounds in order to continue having events.
This case was sent to the Crook County District Attorney’s Office for review.
