Five people are behind bars following an early morning robbery at a Klamath Falls motel… And while the stolen items have been recovered, the incident could be a setback for the motel.
River Park Inn manager Kyle Llanes says the robbery happened shortly after midnight Friday morning. “I heard car doors slamming, and a car take off, and came out here – and I guess our number 40 got robbed.”
Lt. Rob Dentinger of the Klamath Falls Police Department says that 3 men and 2 women thought that 24 year old victim Blackie Bennett owed them money, and threatened Bennett witn a nightstick. “They went into the motel room, confronted him with a weapon, and ransacked the place and took some personal belongings.”
Suspects Damien Collman, Gary Don Johnson, Gary Delynn Johnson, and Jackelynn Hogan-Stevens were pulled over by police a short time later.
“All the property was located in the vehicle, as well as all the suspects.” Said Lt. Dentinger
Six years ago, a 15 year old boy was shot to death at the River’s Inn Motel. The motel closed down a short time later.
In some ways, one of the victims in the case may be the motel – which has only been open for a couple of months following a major renovation. Llanes says he’s concerned about what incidents like the robbery might do to the motel’s reputation: “It is frustrating – very. I don’t want this place to be the way it was before. I’m trying to run a straight business here, and I’m not going to let anybody make a bad name for this place.”
All the suspects face charges including robbery, burglary, and theft. The fifth suspect in the case is a 16 year old girl, who’s lodged at the Klamath County Juvenile Department. She’s facing the same charges as the adults.
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