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An off-duty Portland, Ore., firefighter and his accomplices beat a man who allegedly burglarized his marijuana dispensary and locked him in a storage container in an effort to teach him a lesson, prosecutors said.
Douglas Bourland, 46, and Hong Dieu Lee, 42, were drinking Saturday night when they decided to look for the alleged thief in the downtown area. When they found him outside a steakhouse, Lee allegedly pistol-whipped him and forced him into an SUV, the Oregonian reported, citing a probable cause affidavit.
With a third accomplice identified as Edward Sherman Simmons, 24, they took the man to a marijuana farm 30 miles south of the city in Estacada and hid him in the storage container.
Douglas Bourland, 46, a Portland, Ore., firefighter, is charged with kidnapping a man who allegedly burglarized his marijuana dispensary. (Multnomah County Sheriff's Office)
Friends of the man saw him being forced into the SUV and called the police. An Uber driver also reported seeing the man forced to get in the vehicle at gunpoint, the news outlet said.
The Uber driver followed the vehicle, which had no license plate, and took a photo of the SUV and gave it to the police.
The friends of the man told authorities they burglarized the Oregon Hemp House a week earlier and took marijuana. State records listed Bourland as the owner of the dispensary.
When authorities went to the dispensary the night of the alleged kidnapping, they found an SUV resembling the one described by the witnesses.
The alleged victim wasn't inside the vehicle but a gun was found in front of the passenger seat and blood was discovered on the rear driver's side door, court documents said. The man's friends and Uber driver identified the occupants of the vehicle as those involved in the kidnapping, prosecutors said.
Lee told investigators the plan was to hide the man in a storage container overnight and force him the next day to take them to the marijuana he had stolen.
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He provided them the address to the farm where the man was found. His friends said they were all leaving the restaurant when the SUV pulled up and Simmons prevented them from intervening in the abduction, court documents state.
Bourland is charged with three counts of first-degree kidnapping, according to jail records. The 14-year veteran of the Portland Fire & Rescue was on leave at the time of the incident, the newspaper reported.
Fox News has reached out to the fire department and the Multnomah County District Attorney's office.
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