Released by: Sgt. William Bailey
Occurred: May 10, 2018
Location: Forest Land off China Hat Road
Arrested: Brandon M. Blouin
Age: 25 Belpre, OH
NARRATIVE:
On May 10, 2018, at about 06:17 am, deputies with the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to the 21100 block of Sholes Road, south of Bend, regarding a male that had come out of the woods and was on the caller’s property asking for law enforcement.
Deputies contacted the male, Brandon M. Blouin, and learned that he, an eighteen year old female and their one year old son Bradley Michael Thomas had been staying in a vehicle in the forest land to the north of China Hat Road, near milepost 3. The female had walked away from the vehicle at some point alone and left Bradley in the care and custody of Blouin. Blouin waited for a period of time for her to return, but then took Bradley with him to look for the female.
During Blouin’s search for the female, he set Bradley down in the forest and left him. Blouin is believed to have been under the influence of a controlled substance when he made the choice set him down and walk away.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office activated numerous resources in a race against time to locate Bradley, who we believed to be somewhere in forest land between China Hat Road and Tekampe/Sholes Roads. Activated resources included DCSO Detectives, DCSO patrol personnel, ground and horseback searchers, and drones and helicopters with thermal image sensors. At about 12:11pm this afternoon, a detective assisting with the search located Bradley about 1 mile from the family’s vehicle. Bradley was found naked and laying in the dirt. He was immediately transferred into the care of medical personnel on scene.
This afternoon, Brandon Bouin was arrested by DCSO detectives on charges of Criminal Mistreatment I, Child Neglect II, Endangering the Welfare of a Minor, and Assault III. The assault charge stems from an injury that we believe Bradley suffered while in Bouin’s care. Boudin is currently in police custody at St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.
We are incredibly thankful for the outpouring of assistance we received from other public safety partners and the community during this incident. We would like to thank the following resources who helped in the search for Bradley; Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, Crook County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, Bend Police Department, Bend Fire Department, AirLink, Oregon National Guard, Deschutes National Forest fire crews, Deschutes County 911, and the many private property owners in the area who assisted by searching their land.
This investigation is ongoing.
