A Lebanon man was arrested late Friday, July 18, after allegedly throwing things at vehicles and then lighting harvested hay on fire.
Linn County Sheriff Michelle Duncan said deputies responded at 11:15 p.m. to a report of a man walking in the middle of Brownsville Road, north of Brownsville, striking vehicles with rocks, causing damage.
Additional calls were received reporting that the man was continuing his disorderly behavior and, at one point, threw a bicycle into a vehicle. The man then ran into a field near the intersection of Brownsville Road and Harrison Road where he lit harvested hay on fire before fleeing into the field.
The fire was extinguished by the Brownsville Rural Fire Protection District as deputies and Oregon State Police troopers began searching for the suspect with assistance from a Corvallis Police Department K9 unit and an Albany Police Department drone operator.
The male, identified as Kenneth Helfrich, 44, of Lebanon, was located hiding in a nearby field.
Helfrich was lodged at the Linn County Sheriff’s Office jail on multiple charges related to damaging vehicles, including unlawful use of a weapon, first-degree criminal mischief, second-degree criminal trespassing, reckless endangering, giving false information to a police officer, and on multiple warrants. Additional charges are expected relating to the fire, Duncan said.
Anyone with additional information on the case is encouraged to contact the Linn County Sheriff’s Office at (541) 967-3950.