A 40-year-old Estacada man was pulled out of a thick tangle of blackberry bushes near a Happy Valley home on Tuesday afternoon after deputies say he and at least three others broke into a house that was supposed to be empty, leaving bags of stolen property behind before scattering. The suspect, identified as Andrew Douglas Escalera, was carrying a dagger-point knife, a collapsible baton, heroin, and debit cards bearing other people's names when a K9 unit and drone team finally tracked him down.
The break-in unfolded on SE 96th Avenue after a neighbor called 911 to report three people loading items into a car from a house that should have been vacant, according to KPTV. The suspects reportedly dropped their loot and sped off once confronted, while a fourth person was seen inside the house, per the neighbor's account relayed to deputies. Deputies found bags of stolen goods on the ground. The case has been logged under Sheriff's Office Case # 26-018789.
A Suspect Found In The Brambles
When deputies first searched the house, they found no one inside. After a neighbor yelled that someone was on the roof, deputies searched with a police dog and a drone and found Escalera hiding in blackberry bushes near the burglary scene. Several bags of stolen property had been left on the ground.
Deputies say they found a cache of burglary equipment, including 347 keys and fobs, some specifically modified to defeat locks, along with car keys, house keys, padlock keys, pry bars, crowbars, glass-breakers and flashlights, per the sheriff's office. Also recovered were a stolen checkbook, roughly 14 grams of methamphetamine crystals, and debit cards belonging to other people, according to the same account. The sheer volume of key-defeating tools suggests involvement in break-ins well beyond a single house, though the sheriff's office has not characterized the scope of Escalera's activity beyond this incident.
Charges And Legal Exposure
Escalera was booked into the Clackamas County Jail and, as of Friday, is being held without bail, per KPTV. He faces charges of second-degree burglary, possession of burglary tools, unlawful possession of methamphetamine, three counts of identity theft, and felon in possession of a weapon, according to the outlet's reporting.
Second-degree burglary is a Class C felony under Oregon Revised Statutes ORS 164.215, carrying up to five years in prison and fines as high as $125,000, since the charge applies to anyone who unlawfully enters a building intending to commit a crime inside. The three identity-theft counts are among the charges Escalera faces. His weapon charge alleges possession of a weapon by a felon. The methamphetamine charge concerns unlawful possession.
Three Suspects Still On The Run
Detectives are still looking for three additional suspects connected to the burglary, KPTV reports. One is described as an older, bald white man with a scruffy beard wearing a red sweater, while the other two are described as white women in their 30s, one of whom has a face tattoo. The trio was reportedly driving a white 2002 Cadillac Seville bearing Oregon license plate 352PDA.
Happy Valley, a Clackamas County suburb, has seen its share of high-end burglary cases in recent years. Demographic data from Niche puts its homeownership rate at 79 percent.
This is not the first elaborate burglary case the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office has handled in Happy Valley. Hoodline reported in May that a 41-year-old man was sentenced to prison after hiding in a crawlspace beneath a Happy Valley townhome for months, rigged with power and lights, in a case that also involved drug charges.
