LAKE COUNTY, Ore. – A suspect was arrested after a crime spree that reportedly stretched from Salt Lake City, Utah, to Lake County, Oregon.
Oregon State Police said on September 11, 2022, 42-year-old Jamie Lee Cochran is believed to have burglarized a daycare in Salt Lake City, Utah. He then allegedly stole a van and drove it through the daycare’s fence. The van was later found over 200 miles away in Elko, Nevada.
On September 13, Cochran allegedly stole a quad a drove it to a residence in Elko where he reportedly committed a home invasion robbery. He then went on to steal an Orange Dodge Dakota pickup truck, OSP said.
The next morning, officers in Nevada spotted the pickup truck and tried to pull it over, but it kept going on Highway 140.
Eventually, the truck crossed the border into Oregon where it was seen by a trooper and a Lake County Sheriff’s Office deputy near the small town of Adel. According to OSP, the vehicle went off-road and drove into a private field before police lost sight of it.
Numerous law enforcement agencies joined in on the search for the suspect, who had not yet been identified as Cochran.
Just after noon on Thursday, September 15, Cochran was found in the Fremont Winema National Forest’s Warner Mountains east of Lakeview. The stolen truck was found about six miles away from where he was taken into custody.
According to investigators, Cochran was armed with a stolen handgun when he was arrested.
OSP said Cochran was lodged in the Lake County Jail and will likely face charges of felony eluding, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and theft. This is in addition to outstanding warrants from Nevada.
No further information was provided by investigators.
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