PORTLAND — A Portland firefighter denies kidnapping a man last weekend and looks forward to proving his innocence, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Douglas Lee Bourland was arraigned in Multnomah County Circuit Court Wednesday on three counts of first-degree kidnapping, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.
He was ordered to have no contact with his two co-defendants as well as the man whom they are charged with forcing at gunpoint into a black Range Rover from outside a restaurant in downtown Portland.
According to a probable cause affidavit, the men are accused of abducting the man because they thought he burglarized the Oregon Hemp House, a marijuana business Bourland opened last year. Bourland’s girlfriend is listed as the owner and court records say she posted $75,000 of his $750,000 bond.
Bourland and his alleged accomplices took the victim to a marijuana farm in Estacada and left him in a storage unit, Deputy District Attorney Kate Molina said in the affidavit.
A driver for Uber called police and reported seeing a man later identified as Hong Dieu Lee holding a gun to force a man into the SUV, the affidavit said.
Police stopped the Range Rover and arrested Bourland, Lee, 42, and Edward Sherman Simmons, 24. Lee and Simmons also have posted bail. It wasn’t immediately known if they have lawyers to comment on their cases.
Lee told detectives, according to the affidavit, that he and Bourland hatched the plan to teach the burglar a lesson, according to the affidavit. Police found the man Sunday after Lee told them the location, the affidavit said.
Bourland, a 14-year member of Portland Fire & Rescue Bureau, was on leave at the time of his arrest. Officials won’t say why he was on leave.
