Outpouring of community tips helps sheriff’s office nab suspect in Big Fall Creek Road illegal dumping

A FLOOD OF TIPS from residents in Highway 58 communities helped the Lane County Sheriff’s Office identify a suspect in an illegal dumping incident that occurred near Milepost 3 off Big Fall Creek Road.

On Tuesday, Sept. 27, the sheriff’s office released photos taken surreptitiously last summer, showing the suspect dumping trash from a dark-colored Toyota Tacoma pickup with oversized wheels and tires.

On Thursday, Sept., after an outpouring of community tips, sheriff’s officers were able to identify a Lowell-area man as the suspect and cited him for illegal dumping under a county ordinance. Because the offense was an ordinance violation and not a criminal citation, the sheriff’s office declined to identify the man.

The original news release seeking public help described the suspect as “a medium build white male adult with gray balding hair” and “a gray beard at the time of the incident” this past summer.

A sheriff’s office spokesman said anyone wanting to know the suspect’s identify can find out easily on local social media, where news of the citation was spreading rapidly. The Herald does not publish identities of suspects gleaned from social media.

The man who was cited could face a fine of up to $2,000 and was not taken into custody, according to Sgt. Tom Speldrich of the sheriff’s office.

Images of the dumping incident, which occured on U.S. Bureau of Land Management forest land, were captured on surveillance cameras set up under a partnership between the BLM and the sheriff’s office. Through the service contract, the federal agency provides such resources to the county in return for law enforcement on BLM land.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office has received more than 100 reports of illegal dumping in 2021.