On Sunday, 04/23/2023, at approximately 1:00pm, Lane County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to the report of an armed robbery at a local coffee business in the 35000blk of Hwy. 58 in Pleasant Hill. An employee reported that a male pointed a handgun directly at her and demanded that she give him all of the cash inside of the register. The male then departed the location in an unknown direction with an undisclosed amount of cash.
Deputies reviewed surveillance video and were able to see that the male left in an older model purple Ford Taurus. This vehicle and its occupants had also been spotted earlier in the day behaving suspiciously at another area business.
The involved vehicle was observed driving on Hwy. 99E by a Junction City police officer at about 2:30pm. Deputies responded and contacted the occupants after they pulled into a driveway in the 95000blk of Hwy. 99E. The occupants of the vehicle were detained without incident.
One of those detained matched the person in the video that pointed the gun at the female employee and committed the robbery. He was identified as 40-year-old Brian Keith Gifford of Klamath Falls.
Gifford was arrested for Robbery in the First Degree, Unlawful Use of a Weapon, and Felon in Possession of a Firearm and lodged at the Lane County Jail.
The Lane County Sheriff’s Office would like to thank the Oregon State Police, Junction City Police Department, and Coburg Police Department for their assistance with this case.
George Custer lives in Oakridge with his wife Sayre. George is a former smokejumper from his hometown of Cave Junction, a former captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. and ran a construction company in Southern California. George assumed the volunteer duties as the Editor of the Highway 58 Herald in 2022. He loves riding his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, building all things wood, and playing drums on the weekends in his office.
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