Local News

Grants Pass Police apprehended a man wanted on two local warrants yesterday while investigating a report of suspicious activity at the north Dollar Tree store. The Police Department reports officers were alerted to possible drug dealing taking place in a vehicle parked at the store on NW 6th Street on Monday at 12:51 p.m.. Police said witnesses reported several people were walking up to a small white pickup and then leaving. The vehicle contained two men and a woman including 31-year-old Dakota Alan Ree. There was no evidence of narcotics trafficking. A routine records check showed that Ree was wanted on two Grants Pass warrants for 2nd-Degree Theft and 3rd-Degree Theft. He was placed into custody and lodged at the Josephine County Jail.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a woman on a local warrant after she turned herself in at the Josephine County Jail. According to the Police Department, officers responded to the incident at the jail facility on NE F Street on Monday around noon. Police said 40-year-old Rachell Renee Deckert had arrived at the jail to surrender on a Grants Pass warrant for failing to appear in court for 2nd-Degree Theft. The Sheriff's Office had no available deputies at the time, so they requested assistance from GPPD. Deckert was contacted and then booked into jail on the no-bail warrant.

 

The Oregon State Police arrested a man on an outstanding warrant during a traffic stop near the South Y intersection in Grants Pass late last night. OSP reports troopers pulled over a Mazda Tribute driven by a 33-year-old male subject at the crossing of Redwood and Williams highways at 11:05 p.m. Monday. Troopers said they stopped the vehicle for a traffic violation and discovered that the driver was wanted on a local bench warrant for failing to appear in court for Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants. According to OSP, the warrant was confirmed and the driver was cited to appear in court before being released from custody.

 

Grants Pass Police issued numerous citations and excluded nine people from a designated city campground early yesterday. According to the Police Department, officers performed a patrol check at the SE J Street campground on Monday around 9:40 a.m.. Police said they issued a total of 26 citations for city ordinance violations and trespassed nine individuals from the site. They said one man was found to have a valid warrant out of Canyonville Justice Court and he was cited to appear there in mid-October. Four shopping carts were returned to WinCo, Walmart and Safeway. Two bags of trash were taken out of the carts.

 

For the second time in three days, rafters getting stuck on the rocks near Argo Park on the Rogue River mobilized rescue crews from multiple agencies. On Monday at 12:27 p.m., Rural Metro Fire Department and American Medical Response were dispatched to reports that rafters were in distress and one person was possibly missing. Rural Metro officials said everyone was accounted for, there were no injuries and all the rafts were recovered, although some gear was lost in the river. An engine from the Oregon Department of Forestry that regularly patrols the Galice area assisted with the incident. Officials said both rafting mishaps involved miscalculations made by experienced rafters. They said water levels at this time of year are low, exposing more rocks and making some usual waterway paths unsafe.

 

A Southern Oregon man has been arrested and charged with stalking and harassing Connecticut women's basketball star Paige Bueckers. The Oregonian reports 40-year-old Robert Cole Parmalee of Grants Pass was charged with breach of peace, electronic stalking and harassment while appearing in Connecticut Superior Court in Rockville on Monday. Parmalee was arrested Friday and is being held on $100,000 bond. According to UConn Police, the university's communications department learned of Parmalee targeting Bueckers through "rambling" emails. Parmalee claimed he was a member of the royal family and he wanted to marry a member of the women's basketball team. Parmalee also made social media posts that were threatening to Bueckers' friends and family. According to ESPN, one of Parmalee's TikTok posts threatened to kill himself and others if he couldn't "live with the woman of my choosing," apparently meaning Bueckers. Parmalee previously was arrested on August 27th by Connecticut State Police after he was observed walking along a highway near Bradley International Airport outside Hartford. The day before his arrest, Parmalee posted on TikTok that he was going to see Bueckers with the plan to propose to her and get her expelled from school. A judge ordered both a protective and no-contact order on Monday. Parmalee's next court appearance is scheduled for October 22nd.

 

Two people were seriously injured when their vehicle struck a power pole near Cave Junction late yesterday. The Illinois Valley Fire District, American Medical Response and the Josephine County Sheriff's Office were dispatched to the single-vehicle crash in the 2200-block of Holland Loop Road on Monday at 5:21 p.m.. IVFD officials said arriving units found a vehicle on its roof after striking a power pole. One person was still in the vehicle while the second person was ejected. Both patients were cared for by firefighters until AMR arrived on scene and took the most critical patient to a landing zone and a Mercy Flights helicopter flew the patient to Rogue Regional Medical Center in Medford. The second patient was transported by ground ambulance to Three Rivers Medical Center in Grants Pass. Pacific Power crews arrived on scene to repair the damaged power pole. Jerry's Towing removed the heavily-damaged vehicle and hauled it to Cave Junction. The Sheriff's Office was investigating the cause of the crash.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man on a local felony warrant while investigating reports of suspicious activity in a supermarket parking lot last weekend. According to the Police Department, officers responded to reports of two men and a woman believed to be using or selling drugs out of a parked vehicle at WinCo Foods on NE Terry Lane around midday Saturday. Officers contacted the trio including 38-year-old Charles Lee Shull and found no evidence of drug trafficking. However, they did discover that Shull was wanted on a Jackson County felony warrant for 1st-Degree Theft. Shull was placed into custody and lodged at the Josephine County Jail on the warrant. He was being held pending transfer to the Jackson County Jail in Medford.

 

Grants Pass Police arrested a man on two local warrants during a patrol check at an eastside supermarket. The Police Department reports officers were patrolling the WinCo Foods parking lot off NE Terry Lane when they spotted 30-year-old Kraig Dean Toothman on Saturday afternoon. Police said they knew Toothman from previous law enforcement encounters and knew that he was wanted on two Grants Pass warrants for 2nd-Degree Criminal Mischief and 3rd-Degree Theft. After the warrants were confirmed, the suspect was placed into custody. Toothman was lodged at the Josephine County Jail and he was being held in lieu of posting $60,000 bail.