Media Board

Recent media releases from the Benton County Sheriff's Office are listed below. To read past media releases, go to the "Supporting Documents" section of this web page.

Holiday Extra Patrol Stats

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office has been awarded $37,000 in traffic safety grant money for extra enforcement of DUII laws, distracted driving, speeding, and people not wearing their seatbelts. The Benton County Sheriff’s Office was awarded the grant money from NIHTSA, and is managed by ODOT and Oregon Impact. The goal of these grants is to help reduce traffic fatalities, injuries, crimes and violations, and to help make our roadways safer. The Sheriff’s Office will be participating in those extra patrols throughout the grant year which runs from October 1, 2019, through September 30, 2020. This is not the first year the Benton County Sheriff’s Office has received grant funding to help augment and have extra patrols for the same and similar traffic crimes and violations, and it will hopefully continue.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office had few extra patrols in October 2019 surrounding Halloween where deputies were targeting drivers speeding and other unsafe traffic violations. During the extra patrols, deputies working on the grant overtime issued 11 citations primarily for speeding, and some for other traffic violations. Those deputies also warned 13 other drivers for minor traffic violations.

Deputies will continue to have extra patrols for enforcing speed, safety belt, distracted driving (using cell phone while driving), and DUII enforcement in November surrounding the Thanksgiving Holiday. Deputies will also be working extra patrols specifically targeting the crime of Driving Under the Influence of Intoxicants during the winter holiday season between December 13, 2019 and January 2, 2020.

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office encourages people to have fun and enjoy this upcoming holiday season. We just ask that you do it safely and responsibly and help to keep our roadways and loved ones safe. We will continue to look for and arrest impaired drivers, people using their cell phones while driving, speeding, not wearing their safety belts, and other unsafe driving behaviors.

Driver impairment and speeding are the most common causes of injury crashes. Oregon’s DUII enforcement program is committed to reducing the amount of crashes and impaired drivers on our roadways by keeping them off the roadway and arresting them when they choose to drive. For more info on impaired driving, visit www.StopImpairedDriving.com. For help with child seats or additional “best practice” information, refer to the seat manufacturer’s instructions, vehicle owner’s manual or call ACTS Oregon Child Safety Seat Resource Center at 503-643-5620 in Portland or 877-793-2608.

Community Notification

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) is notifying the public that a Level 3 sex offender has been released into the community.

Allen Holdorf, age 31, was released from the Department of Corrections on October 11, 2019. He is on Post-Prison Supervision for Sodomy 2nd Degree, Attempted Sex Abuse 1st Degree, and Encouraging Child Sexual Abuse in the 2nd Degree.

Holdorf is a white male, 6’4” tall, 280 pounds in weight, has brown hair and green eyes.

Holdorf is homeless; he is to have no contact with minors and is not to frequent places where minors congregate such as playgrounds, schools, arcades, libraries, churches, or community pools.

Special conditions for Holdorf’s release also include: no access to a computer or computer-related devices or to the internet, not to use or possess alcohol, and no direct or indirect contact with his victims or minors. Holdorf will also wear a GPS monitoring tracker.

To report any misconduct or violation, please notify Benton County Sheriff’s Office Parole & Probation Deputy, Shawna Johnson at 541-6228 or shawna.johnson@co.benton.or.us. For an emergency, please call 911.

Fatal Crash on Alpine Road

On 9/18/19 around 5:45 PM, deputies with the Benton County Sheriff’s Office responded to a single vehicle crash on Alpine Road, near McFarland Road in Benton County.

A white 1992 Honda Civic was traveling east on Alpine Road. For an unknown reason the Honda left the roadway, rolling several times and landing on the side of Alpine Road.

A preliminary investigation indicated that Ernest Robert Hernandez, born in 1987, was the driver. Mr. Hernandez died as a result of the crash.

The last known address of Mr. Hernandez was in Albany, Oregon but may have lived recently in Alpine.

A passenger, Adrian Gabriel Molina, also born in 1987 and from Eugene, Oregon, survived the crash. No medical update is available for Mr. Molina but his injuries do not appear to be life threatening.

The accident is still under investigation. Alcohol, marijuana and speed may have contributed to the crash. Anyone with information is asked to contact Sgt. David Iverson of the Benton County Sheriff’s Office at 541.766.6858.

DUII & Seatbelt Saturation Patrol

Results from DUII saturation patrol (August 16 – September 2, 2019)
Results from Seatbelt saturation patrol (August 19 – September 1, 2019)

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office participated in extra seat belt saturation patrol between August 19 through September 1, 2019. BCSO also participated in extra DUII saturation patrol August 16 through September 2, 2019 to coincide with the end of summer and Labor Day Weekend. During that date range there were four drivers arrested for DUII by the Sheriff’s Office, and one Drug Recognition Expert Evaluation completed. During that time frame drivers were also stopped for multiple traffic violations. BCSO issued a total of 148 traffic citations during that time with 90 for speeding, 17 for driving while suspended, 3 for speaking on their cell phone, 2 for failing to use Interlocking Device Systems, 1 for failing to wear their safety belt, and issued multiple warnings. BCSO investigated 10 traffic crashes with 3 of them involving injuries.

Benton County Sheriff’s Office will be conducting other traffic blitzes throughout the end of the year surrounding holiday weekends, and events where there is more traffic on our roadways. We will continue to look for and arrest impaired drivers, people using their cell phones while driving, speeding, not wearing their safety belts, and other unsafe driving behaviors.

Retirement celebration for Stacy Mellem & Diana Rabago

On August 1, 2019, we celebrated the retirements of two Benton County Sheriff’s employees, Stacy Mellem and Diana Rabago. At the gathering, they were recognized by Undersheriff Rider and presented with a certificate of appreciation by the Board of Commissioners.

Stacy spent 12 years as our Policy/Accreditation Specialist. Stacy quickly achieved accreditation status for BCSO by re-writing and updating all policies and procedures. She then found herself coordinating and facilitating the annual Citizens’ Academy and Drug Take-Back Event, creating comprehensive community outreach materials, and maintaining the BCSO website. On her own time, Stacy was, and continues to be, active in our community by volunteering with Leadership Corvallis, the Sheriff’s Foundation, BCSO Chili Cook-Off, Oregon Special Olympics, CARDV, Imagine Corvallis 2040 Steering Committee, and her neighborhood association.

Our Jail Commander, Diana, retired after 25 years of service. Diana held the positions of Deputy, Program Coordinator, Field Training Deputy, Corporal, Sergeant, Transport Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain. Diana created and implemented an evaluation system for On-Call Jail Deputies, was a certified Jail Inspector for 6 years, was the Vice President of the Oregon Sheriff’s Jail Command Council position in 2013, received an award for Employee of the Year in 2008, and received a Distinguished Service Award in 2008.

We wish the women a relaxing retirement filled with happiness. Thank you for your service to Benton County!

Community Notification

The Benton County Sheriff’s Office (BCSO) is notifying the public that a Level 3 sex offender has been released into the community.

Micah Delbozque, age 29, was released from the Department of Corrections on July 2, 2019. He is on Post-Prison Supervision until 2024 for Attempted Sexual Abuse in the First Degree, Rape in the Third Degree (x4), and Attempted Rape in the Second Degree.

Delbozque is a white male, 6’2” tall, 270 pounds in weight, has brown hair and blue eyes.

He will be living at 3910 SW Neer Avenue in Corvallis. He is to have no contact with minors and is not to frequent places where minors congregate such as playgrounds, schools, arcades, libraries, churches, or community pools.

Special conditions for Delbozque’s release also include: no access to a computer or computer-related devices or to the internet and no direct or indirect contact with his victim.