A Baker City man accused of stealing a customer's plate of food led police on a foot chase through backyards before officers tased him at a B Street yard and caught him near the Albertsons grocery on Campbell Street. Jonathon Russell Romine, 45, was arrested at about 2:35 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 25, after running from officers who had been called to investigate reports of trespassing and erratic behavior near two Baker City businesses.
A Food-Theft Report Sparks a Chase
According to the Baker City Herald, Officer Koby Essex responded to a report that Romine had taken a customer's plate of food at Sweet Wife Baking, located at 2028 Main St., and was behaving erratically near Thatcher's Ace Hardware at 2300 Resort St. The Herald's report, written by Jayson Jacoby, says Essex and Officer Kyle Loomis located Romine in the 2500 block of Grove Street, where Romine fled. Officers later found him near the 2500 block of Clark Street, and he ran east on Cedar Street. Residents later told Essex that Romine had turned north after they shouted at him.
Essex eventually found Romine entering a yard in the 1200 block of B Street, where Romine jumped over a fence. The Herald's account states that Essex deployed his Taser twice without effect during the encounter at the B Street yard. Romine kept moving and was ultimately confronted near the Albertsons grocery on Campbell Street, where Oregon State Police Senior Trooper Levi Macy and Baker City Police Sergeant Michael Regan tried to take him into custody.
Resisting Arrest and a Warning to Officers
Per the newspaper's account, Romine resisted by refusing to move his arm so officers could handcuff him, and Essex used joint-manipulation tactics to move Romine's right arm before Essex and Macy got him handcuffed. Romine had earlier told Officer Loomis that he would likely fight if arrested, the Herald reported. After paramedics removed one Taser probe stuck in Romine's back, Essex drove him to the Baker County Jail.
The Baker County District Attorney's Office charged Romine with third-degree escape, resisting arrest and second-degree criminal trespassing, according to the Herald. Third-degree escape and resisting arrest are each classified as Class A misdemeanors, while second-degree criminal trespassing is a Class C misdemeanor. Romine was arraigned in Baker County Circuit Court on Monday, Oct. 26.
A Pattern of Contacts Since April 2025
Chief Deputy District Attorney Michael Spaulding filed a motion to revoke Romine's Oct. 22 release agreement, citing Sunday's arrest as the reason, the Herald reported. Romine had been released from the Baker County Jail on Oct. 22 after agreeing not to commit crimes while earlier charges remained pending. Baker City Police Chief Ty Duby has said that since April 2025, officers from his department or the Baker County Sheriff's Office have had multiple contacts with Romine, a claim repeated in the newspaper's coverage of a separate incident.
That pattern includes a Nov. 24, 2025, arrest in which an officer used a Taser twice while taking Romine into custody. According to the Herald's reporting on that incident, the first Taser deployment had negligible effect, and Romine required a second deployment and physical force before he could be handcuffed. Police said Romine grabbed an officer's leg and bent it at the knee, placing the officer in a dangerous situation. Romine was examined at Saint Alphonsus Medical Center-Baker City before being taken to jail and later pleaded guilty to four counts tied to that encounter.
Romine pleaded guilty on Dec. 29, 2025, to one count each of second-degree criminal trespassing, second-degree disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and third-degree criminal mischief stemming from the November incident, and he was sentenced to 25 days in jail and one year of probation, the Herald reported. In a separate case, Romine was arrested after allegedly trespassing on property near Alder Creek Road. He was charged with one count of second-degree trespassing, also a Class C misdemeanor, in that case.
A Record Stretching Back to 2018
Romine's history with the courts predates these recent arrests. A Dec. 30, 2019, no-contest plea tied to a 2018 incident near Halfway resulted in three years of probation, with a 38-month prison term hanging over him if that probation were revoked.
Oregon law defines resisting arrest under Oregon Revised Statutes §162.315, according to the Oregon Legislature. Sunday's foot chase and Taser deployment fit a broader pattern for the department: Baker City officers used a Taser on a different suspect who fled on foot during an attempted arrest in August 2025, according to earlier Baker City Herald reporting. Romine's arraignment Monday keeps his latest case moving through the same Baker County Circuit Court system that has handled his repeated run-ins with local law enforcement over the past several years.
