Kotek reverses second extradition decision, seeks return of woman suspected of targeting Asian Americans

For the second time this spring

, Gov. Tina Kotek reversed a decision by her staff and said her office would cover the costs of returning a

criminal suspect to Oregon

, this time an alleged burglar accused of targeting Asian Americans.

This case and the other one — involving

a woman accused of stealing up to $200,000 from the Eugene Weekly

— have focused attention on the governor’s role in what has been a typically routine staff decision.

In both cases, the initial extradition denial turned political, prompting the governor to personally intervene.

The latest case involves suspects in what authorities describe as a sophisticated and prolific crime ring that targeted people of Asian descent in the Pacific Northwest.

Kotek suggested that her office didn’t have enough information from prosecutors to make good decisions on the extraditions, though she didn’t elaborate on what details her staff would have needed to make a different call.

Typically, the governor’s office covers the cost of returning felony defendants to Oregon, a process that involves sending law enforcement officials out of state to accompany the person back here.

In general, the state pays to bring back Oregon defendants in higher-level felonies, such as murder and rape, from anywhere in the country and limits extradition involving lower-level felonies and property crimes to nearby states, according to prosecutors.

Data on how often the governor’s office has denied extraditions is hard to come by. Kotek’s spokesperson said the office does not track that information.

The Multnomah County District Attorney’s Office said the governor’s office typically turns down one or two requests a year. So far this year, two requests were denied, Senior Deputy District Attorney Jeff Lowe said.

In one of those cases,


Kotek’s staff reversed its decision after prosecutors raised “what we believed to be extenuating and aggravating circumstances,” Lowe said. In the second, the district attorney’s office made the unusual decision to pay for the extradition out of its own budget, he said.

The number of extraditions the governor’s office has authorized has remained relatively steady, though the cost to bring people back to Oregon has climbed, according to state data.

Data shows the state has extradited 3,896 people during the current two-year budget cycle ending this month at an overall cost of about $642,000 — essentially building back to pre-pandemic levels when the governor’s office extradited 4,088 people and spent $542,000 in 2017-2019.

The vast majority involve extraditions from Washington, Montana, Idaho and Northern California. Oregon has an agreement with those states to drive criminal defendants back to the state in what is known as the Northwest Shuttle Program.

During a press conference Monday, Kotek said she has “full confidence in our efforts” around extradition.

‘SUMMARILY DENIED’

Jensina Hawkins, a Eugene resident who serves on the Asian American Council of Oregon and chairs the Eugene Police Commission, said as of January more than a dozen homes of Asian American families in Eugene and two in Springfield were burglarized.

She said the home in Springfield was targeted three times.

A Eugene police spokesperson confirmed that about a dozen burglaries are under investigation. A half-dozen people have been arrested in connection with those cases, she said.

A Springfield police spokesperson did not respond to a request for information about burglaries allegedly tied to the crime ring.

Hawkins said the original decision to decline extradition further undermined public confidence in the justice system, though Kotek’s reversal helped restore it.

“This is an entire community that has been targeted,” she said.

In the latest case out of Lane County, the suspect is linked to a criminal operation that authorities allege is behind more than 30 residential burglaries in Oregon and dozens more in Washington and Idaho. The victims are all Asian Americans.

Last month, Nicole Townsend, director of extradition services, denied the Lane County District Attorney’s Office’s request to extradite the woman from Harris County, Texas.

Kotek’s spokesperson confirmed this week that “after further communication with the Lane County DA’s office and review of the information provided,” the governor signed off the extradition.

A second suspect linked to the Lane County case was also arrested in Texas and was placed under a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold; Kotek has stood by her office’s decision not to pay for his extradition, said her spokesperson, Roxy Mayer. Mayer declined to comment on the reason.

Last month, Kotek second-guessed Townsend’s decision not to extradite a woman accused of embezzling from the Eugene Weekly, a crime that temporarily crippled the news organization. Townsend declined to extradite the woman from Ohio, where local authorities arrested her in coordination with Eugene police.

At the time, Townsend suggested that Lane County revise Young’s warrant to reflect that extradition would be authorized only if she is picked up in neighboring states.

The woman, who faces felony property crime charges, walked free and remains at large.

Kotek seemed to blame the latest flip-flop on the Lane County District Attorney’s Office.

“I think it’s very challenging when we’re not getting urgent, up-to-date information from our district attorneys to be in partnership to deal with these extraditions,” Kotek said. “We need to stand strong when it comes to hate crimes, but again, I need strong partnership with our DAs to get that information and have better communication so we’re not having to do this back and forth all the time.”

Lane County District Attorney Chris Parosa said he made separate requests for the two defendants who were picked up in Texas this spring.

He said his office made clear in its first request the circumstances of the case.

“I’m a little baffled when we openly told them in the very first email exchange about the fact that this individual, the female suspect in Asian burglary cases out of Lane County, is a person targeting the Asian community,” he said. “And you know, we got just summarily denied for it.”

He said his staff sent its first request at 4:25 p.m. on April 3. At 6:41 p.m., he said Townsend’s email said only


“funding denied at this time.”

At 2 p.m. on May 14, Parosa’s office asked for authorization to extradite a second suspect who was on a federal immigration hold. At 2:28 p.m., he said he received Townsend’s denial.

Parosa said Townsend asked about “extenuating circumstances.” He said he did not provide any since he had already noted the other suspect’s ties to the suspected crime ring in his unsuccessful request for extradition.

Parosa said Townsend wrote to him that the state typically allows deportations to proceed if a fugitive has a federal immigration hold and will “reissue the warrant in case they attempt reentry.”

Earlier this month, Kotek’s office told Parosa that the governor would authorize the extradition of the defendant who was not under the federal immigration hold.

He said the suspect, however, is no longer in custody. She remains at large.

A warrant issued for her arrest now states that Oregon will extradite from anywhere in the United States, Parosa said. He declined to identify her.

Parosa said he’s sensitive to the cost associated with extradition. In recent months, he said he worried about denials so he didn’t bother requesting extradition in about 10 cases.

He said he worries the state may expect counties to pick up the tab for some extraditions. He said his office cannot afford it.

“That would make for a situation where any criminal offender could simply flee our state to avoid responsibility for crimes,” he said. “That circumstance would be devastating for the safety of our communities.”

STALKING VICTIMS

Parosa said the two suspects arrested in Texas are part of a network that has preyed on Asian Americans throughout the region.

The alleged operation is detailed in court records filed in Washington County, where four people face charges for their role in what prosecutors called a “sophisticated criminal organization” made up of Colombian nationals with no links to Oregon.

Washington County authorities opened an investigation into the ring last fall, the court filings say.

A search warrant affidavit written earlier this year by Tigard police Detective Kyle Henderson says a string of burglaries last year and this year in Lake Oswego, Clackamas, Beaverton, Tigard, Eugene and Bend share strikingly similar patterns.

Court records say the Washington County suspects, two men and two women, “specifically targeted victims of Asian or Indian descent and committed each burglary in a nearly identical fashion.”

The suspects identified potential victims at H-Mart, other Asian markets or at restaurants and convenience stores with Asian owners, the court records say.

According to court filings, the defendants then stalked the people, following them home and monitoring their routines to determine when their homes would be empty. They kept detailed notes with home addresses, business addresses and vehicle information, prosecutors allege.

The suspects worked in pairs or in larger groups, shattering doors to enter the homes and disabling wifi “by unplugging the victim’s internet router or using a ‘wifi jammer’ device to disable any security cameras,” the filing states.

The affidavit notes that the operations typically relied on lookouts who also picked up the burglars with the stolen goods.

The team worked quickly to move the stolen goods via mail or a courier “to an unknown source,” according to the affidavit.

In one instance last November, a woman was asleep in her bed when the defendants broke in “wearing all black with black ski masks.”

Prosecutors allege that the men grabbed the woman’s wrists and forced her downstairs, demanding to know the whereabouts of cash and jewelry. The burglars barricaded the door and ransacked the home, ordering the woman to disclose the location of any valuables, according to the court records.

“The victim insisted she did not have any cash, jewelry, or a safe, and in response, one of the defendants grabbed a jade necklace the victim was wearing off of her neck,” according to court filings.

The defendants then fled in a getaway car, prosecutors say.

A Tigard family that owns a business in Portland reported that the thieves took a safe that contained $110,000 worth of gold, about $17,500 in cash and between $20,000 to $30,000 in jewelry in a break-in last fall, according to court records.

Tigard police responding to a separate burglary around the same time entered the home to find the main bedroom “in total disarray” and “completely ransacked,” records show.

“Various personal items, loose change, clothing, jewelry, documents, knickknacks, and empty boxes covered nearly the entire bedroom floor,” police noted in a report that was filed in court. The owner’s safe had been pried open, the report notes.

“The safe itself was nearly empty with only a few small pieces of jewelry left inside,” the officer noted.

The Washington County cases are pending. In each case, the defendants pleaded not guilty. Two are in jail, another was released on bail. A warrant was issued for one after she missed her latest court date. Her whereabouts are unknown.

— Noelle Crombie is an enterprise reporter with a focus on criminal justice. Reach her at 503-276-7184 or ncrombie@oregonian.com.

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