A Portland thug with a rap sheet as long as the I-5 corridor is heading to the big house for his part in a daring armed raid on a southern Oregon pot grower. Kenan Dizdarevic, 35, has been handed a 107-month stretch in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release. He's also been slapped with a bill to pay back the victims of his brazen crime.
According to a statement from Nathan J. Lichvarcik, Chief of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Eugene and Medford Branch Offices, Dizdarevic and his criminal crew masqueraded as cops, complete with firearms, body armor, and ski masks to instill terror in their victims. "Our office is committed to holding defendants like Mr. Dizdarevic accountable and combating violent crime throughout Oregon," Lichvarcik asserted. As revealed by the U.S. Department of Justice, during the early morning invasion on November 2, 2019, the fake police duo cuffed two people and pillaged more than 30 pounds of pot and a vehicle.
Law enforcement later gave chase to the stolen getaway car and its accomplice vehicle at breakneck speeds over 120 mph across three counties but to no avail, as the robbers gave them the slip. The chase ended with one car spiked and stopped—its driver, linked to the robbery, bolted on foot before authorities could nab him. A search later turned up a treasure trove of incriminating gear including ski masks, zip ties, and an assortment of guns. It turned out that Dizdarevic, the driver who hoofed it, and a third accomplice had hit the road together to commit the offense, his fingerprints and DNA tying him to the heist setup.
Caught in the feds' net on June 29, 2022, Dizdarevic admitted his guilt on August 23, 2023 to interfering with commerce by robbery and conspiring with others to deal weed. Jonathan Blais, Special Agent in Charge at ATF Seattle, praised the sentencing, saying, "This is a well-deserved sentence." "Mr. Dizdarevic and his accomplices committed robbery, impersonated law enforcement, stole a vehicle and fled from actual law enforcement. Their actions were extremely brazen and posed a great danger to the community," he told the Justice Department.
Dizdarevic's accomplice, Shannon Christopher Harrop, 34, had previously been sentenced to 162 months for being the mastermind behind the sting and similar crimes. With 10 goons caught and pleading guilty in the string of robberies, Dizdarevic is the eighth to face the music, leaving two others waiting for their day in court. The case was a joint effort led by the ATF and the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Marco Boccato landed the prosecution gig. Watch your backs, and your buds, folks.
