WALDPORT – A 36-year-old Waldport man is scheduled to be arraigned in Lincoln County circuit court Tuesday on four charges stemming from a burglary at the Siuslaw National Forest’s Central Coast Ranger District and theft of eight specialized hand-held radios worth $2,000 each.
Michael A. Colon is accused of first-degree burglary, first-degree theft, possessing a burglary tool and criminal mischief stemming from a Dec. 11 break-in at the district’s office at 1130 S.W. Forestry Lane.
In a probable cause affidavit filed in circuit court, Sheriff’s Deputy Corbin Collins said a ranger district employee arrived at work at 6 a.m. Dec. 11 to find his equipment scattered about and locked cabinets open. The employee said a man walked out of the employee’s office and asked “where is Jeff?” before leaving the building.
The employee snapped a photo of the suspect and gave it to Collins, who recognized Colon “from previous criminal encounters …”
At 9 o’clock that night, Deputy Anthony Rose spotted Colon walking near the ranger district and took him into custody. Rose said in his probable cause affidavit that Colon said he and a man named Jeff and two women had gone to the ranger district offices to use fentanyl “and told me he did not remember what occurred while he was inside …”
Court records show that Colon had been fined $350 a week earlier by a Lincoln County judge after being found guilty of third-degree theft.