Evans set to be transferred to North Dakota
Malheur County case dismissed
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Sunday, March 23, 2008 3:21 AM PDT
Malheur County - The man who sparked a police standoff last week will soon be traveling across state lines.
Again.
Billy Joe Evans, 56, was arrested by Malheur County Sheriff’s Office deputies March 14 in Brogan after he triggered a massive local law enforcement response and standoff at the Ontario Inn.
Evans was wanted for a parole violation in Wyoming and fraud in Ohio. Evans, who was charged in Oregon with theft of services in the first and second degree and with unauthorized use of a vehicle, was originally slated to appear at a hearing Friday, but it was canceled.
“Looks like on the 17th he signed a waiver,” Malheur County District Attorney Dan Norris said. “He did that in jail, so there was no need to have a hearing.”
The reason for this cancellation revolves around Evans’ alleged theft of a 1993 Chevrolet pickup from North Dakota.
The Malheur County District Attorney’s Office originally planned to bring Evans to trial but decided not to once it realized the amount of money that would be involved. Instead, Norris said he left it up to the other states to decide where Evans should go next, leaving North Dakota as Evans’ next destination.
“The victim was in North Dakota,” Norris said. “We would have had to bring him out to be at the trial.”
Another reason that Evans was slated to be transferred to North Dakota is because of the maximum sentence the theft charge regarding the pickup would bring.
“Eighteen months of probation,” Norris said. “We would have had to allow him to move to our community. We have enough criminals. We don’t need to import more.”
Norris said he determined the theft of services charges — one revolving around a non-payment to the Ontario Inn and the other regarding the local business Suds and Spuds — were civil, not criminal.
According to a representative from the Malheur County District Court, Circuit Court Judge Patricia Sullivan signed the dismissal order for the Evans case Thursday.
Norris said the best course of action would be to leave Evans in the care of other states.
“It doesn’t make sense to use a lot of resources on this,” Norris said.
Though he signed the extradition waiver, Evans is still waiting to be transferred.
“He’s still residing with us,” Malheur County Jail Sgt. Eric Kaufman said. “We can’t say when he will be transported for security and safety reasons.”
At an Ontario School Board meeting Thursday night, Ontario Police Capt. Mark Alexander briefed the School Board about the standoff, which sparked a district-wide lockdown.
Alexander said, the morning of the incident, the Ontario Police Department was fairly sure Evans was in his room, after police determined he was wanted out of two states, sparking the three-hour standoff. Alexander told the board when the police officer arrived on the scene, for what was considered at that time a fairly routine call, he passed Evans, who was carrying a cup of coffee, headed back to his room. Once it was determined Evans was wanted, and that he could potentially be dangerous to police based on prior incidents where he resisted arrest and escaped from a correctional institution, Alexander said, OPD decided to call for back up, in part because only three officers were on duty that morning.
In addition, Alexander said, police were fairly certain he was still in the room, based on what the police officer had seen. Also, there was a light outside the motel room that was turned off, and police thought it might have been turned off intentionally. Alexander said police later learned the lights outside the room were on an automatic timer.
After police entered the room about three hours later and discovered Evans was gone, Alexander said, they discovered Evans had initially returned to his room like police thought. He said when officers entered the room, they determined he changed his clothes and left.
Later that day, police learned Evans approached owners of a residence near Nyssa about possibly taking a car they had for sale for a test drive, although he did not indicate whether Evans was successful.
