$1M bail for 24-year-old accused of drugging, kidnapping Oregon teen
Bail is set at $1 million for a 24-year-old man accused of drugging an Oregon treen before driving her to a remote farm house in Benton County and raping her.
The 16-year-old was found at the home in the Horse Heaven Hills southwest of the Tri-Cities.
The Grandview man accused of kidnapping her, Alec L Lepe, is being held in the Benton County jail on suspicion of third-degree rape and unlawful imprisonment.
The teen from Milwaukie, Ore., told authorities that the ordeal began when she received a text message Feb. 25 from a number she didn’t recognize.
The message included a picture of a gun and her house with a threat that said she “needed to go with him or he would kill her grandparents,” court documents said.
She ran away from home and met a man wearing a ski mask who was driving a lifted four-door truck. The man had her drink a dark liquid that tasted like apple juice “but was spicy,” court documents said.
When she woke up, she was inside a home on East Shirl Road among hundreds of farming circles, about 15 miles north of Paterson in the southern area of Benton County.
She told investigators that the man left each day for work and when he returned home he raped her. He normally took her phone with him when he left. He also warned her that he had cameras and not to try anything.
Benton County deputies were alerted by Milwaukie, Ore., police about the missing teen on Feb. 28. They had narrowed the location to the Shirl Road area.
As deputies were converging in the address, Lepe was driving a Dodge 3500. Lepe denied knowing anything about a girl in the area and kept driving away.
About the same time, the teen managed to use a phone and called 911 and the Milwaukie police.
Dispatchers were able to confirm she was at the Shirl Road property, and when deputies closed in on the home, they could hear her calling for help.
She was taken to Kadlec Regional Medical Center in Richland to be checked.
Investigators were told by the property owner that Lepe was allowed to use the home as part of his pay for working on the property.
Investigators found no guns or black ski mask, but the owner said he knew Lepe owned a rifle and a shotgun.
Two days later on March 1, Lepe had a friend call police to say he wanted to turn himself in. However, he denied knowing the girl was at the house or going to the Portland area.