Police chief hopes arrests make 'major dent' in drug ring

Oct. 4—A Baker City man who has been investigated by the Baker County Narcotics Enforcement Team for about two years, and who survived a drug overdose earlier this year, was arrested on Saturday, Oct. 1.

Richard Wayne Carroll, 52, of 1129 Elm St., was arrested at 5:10 p.m. at the Baker County Jail, where he was trying to post bail for someone Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby called an "associate" of Carroll's.

Duby declined to name the associate.

Carroll is charged with unlawful delivery and possession of methamphetamine, unlawful attempted delivery of methamphetamine, and four counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. Police found four AR-15-style rifles, with "extended magazines," while carrying out a warrant search of Carroll's home on Monday, Oct. 3, according to court records.

His bail was set at $15,000; he could be released by posting 10% of that amount. Carroll is scheduled to be arraigned on Oct. 14 at 4 p.m. in Baker County Circuit Court.

Also on Monday, Baker City Police arrested Carroll's younger brother, Tom Raymond Carroll, 39.

Tom Carroll is facing federal

drug and gun charges stemming from his arrest in Baker City on Jan. 25, 2022.

Tom Carroll was released from federal custody earlier this year, Duby said on Tuesday, Oct. 4. Tom Carroll is being supervised by Multnomah County officials, and Duby said he doesn't believe Carroll has been in Baker City recently.

However, Duby said Tom Carroll apparently drove from the Portland area to Baker City after he learned that his older brother had been arrested on Saturday.

Duby said members of the Narcotics Enforcement Team were watching Richard Carroll's home on Elm Street and saw Tom Carroll there.

Duby said he talked with an assistant U.S. attorney, who told him that Tom Carroll had been released awaiting trial on the Baker County charges.

Baker City Police stopped Tom Carroll's vehicle at 10:21 a.m. on Monday at Auburn Avenue and Chestnut Street. Police found methamphetamine on Carroll and arrested him.

His passenger, Jimi Lee Kayser, 34, of Portland, ran from police but she was arrested soon after on warrants from Multnomah County for failure to appear on original charges of first-degree burglary and first-degree robbery. Kayser was also taken to the Baker County Jail.

Duby said he believes the arrests of Richard and Tom Carroll will put a "major dent" in a drug-dealing operation in Baker City that involves the brothers and two other men, Loren Dean Alexander Prevo and Zachary Charles Persicke

Prevo, 30, was sentenced on Feb. 11, 2022, to 56 months in state prison for failing to complete conditions of his probation, including not completing an inpatient drug treatment program. Prevo pleaded guilty on April 19, 2021, to charges of delivering meth and being a felon in possession of a restricted weapon.

Persicke, 37, was arrested Sept. 21, 2021, after leading police from several agencies on a vehicle chase at speeds exceeding 100 mph.

A Baker County grand jury indicted Persicke on multiple charges, including attempting to elude a police officer, and unlawful possession and delivery of methamphetamine and heroin.

Persicke's charges, as with Tom Carroll's, were moved to the federal court system, where they are pending.

Duby said he believes the Carroll brothers, Prevo and Persicke were "pretty well connected" and were all "upper level dealers" in drugs in Baker City.

Tom Carroll's charges date to the spring of 2021. The Narcotics Enforcement Team arrested him on May 6, 2021, in a motel room in Baker City.

Carroll was on parole after serving a prison term on drug and firearms offenses.

He was charged with selling meth and fentanyl, which was in the form of blue pills, made in Mexico to look like 30 mg oxycodone pills. Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is about 100 times more potent than morphine and, according to a recent report from the Oregon Health Authority, is contributing to a rise in overdose deaths in the past two years.

When police arrested Tom Carroll in May 2021 they found more than 2 pounds of meth, about 50 of the blue pills, a stolen 9 mm handgun and more than $20,000 in cash.

Carroll was released from the Baker County Jail posting a $10,000 bond (10% of his $100,000 bail) the day he was arrested in 2021.

Duby said Tom Carroll continued to be involved in drug dealing, and he was arrested in Baker City on Jan. 25, 2022, for violation of his release agreement.

Baker County District Attorney Greg Baxter said Tom Carroll's case was shifted to the federal level because, due to differences in Oregon and federal law, it's more likely that Carroll, if convicted, would face longer prison terms from federal charges than from state charges.

The Narcotics Enforcement Team also arrested Prevo last winter, on Jan. 29, 2022.

He was sentenced to prison less than two weeks later.

Duby said the Narcotics Enforcement Team was also investigating Richard Carroll as being involved with his brother and with Prevo.

Richard Carroll was treated for a drug overdose after being found unconscious on Feb. 6, 2022, at his home on Elm Street.

Detectives secured a search warrant for the home and found about 1 pound of methamphetamine, several grams of heroin, two AR-15 rifles and two handguns, along with "other items indicative of narcotics trafficking," according to a press release from Duby in February 2022.

Although a Baker County grand jury indicted Richard Carroll on charges for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and for possessing meth, police continued to investigate his activities and had not arrested him on those charges.

After Richard Carroll was arrested on Saturday, and Tom Carroll was arrested on Monday, Duby said police served a search warrant at Richard Carroll's home on Elm Street on Monday. That search yielded the rifles and resulted in the new charges against Richard Carroll in addition to the four counts stemming from the February 2022 search of the same home.

Duby said it's likely that the new charges will be moved to the federal court system, as was the case with charges against Tom Carroll.

During Monday's search police also found many tools, which Duby believes were stolen from local businesses.

Duby said he believes local fentanyl addicts stole those tools and then traded them to Richard Carroll for the drug.

Duby said fentanyl use is widespread locally, with some people spending $100 to $300 daily on the drug. He said the drug users carry naloxone, a drug that rapidly counteracts the effects of an opioid overdose.