PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Court documents obtained Tuesday revealed new information in an alleged kidnapping carried out by a Portland, Oregon firefighter and two accomplices.
The arrests of Portland firefighter Douglas Bourland, Hong Dieu Lee and Edward Simmons were announced on Monday by Portland police.
The court documents said the victim was kidnapped at gunpoint outside a steakhouse in an apparent revenge crime for having stolen marijuana from a South Portland dispensary owned by one of the suspects, 46-year-old firefighter Douglas Bourland.
On Saturday, the victim and his friends were downtown dining at Ruth’s Chris Steak House when he stepped outside to give his friend – who they all knew as “40” – a steak to go, according to an affidavit.
The person known as “40,” later identified as 24-year-old Edward Simmons by police, received a phone call and immediately a black Range Rover with no plates pulled up alongside the group, the affidavit said.
Court documents said the victim’s friends saw an Asian man, later identified as 42-year-old Hong Dieu Lee, exit the SUV and point a gun at the group. Lee pistol-whipped the victim, forcing him into the car, documents said.
The victim’s friends tried to intervene, but Simmons stopped them and then left the scene with the kidnappers in the car, according to the affidavit.
A nearby Uber driver saw the events unfold and reported the crime, the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office said in the document. He then followed the Range Rover until it reached South Harbor Drive, snapping a photo of the vehicle and sending it to police.
Police interviewed the victim’s friends and learned some of them had stolen marijuana from the Oregon Hemp House a week prior, the document said. After searching the dispensary for the victim’s whereabouts, police observed and pulled over a nearby black Range Rover with no plates.
According to the affidavit, Bourland was driving the vehicle with Simmons and Lee as passengers, but the victim wasn’t there.
Police saw a handgun on the floorboard and blood on the back passenger window before having the victim’s friends and the Uber driver positively identify the alleged kidnappers. The three suspects were arrested on multiple kidnapping charges.
In an interview with detectives the next day, Lee told them Bourland found out the victim had been involved in the recent burglary at his shop, and he wanted to “teach him a lesson,” court documents said.
He also revealed that they took the victim to a marijuana farm in Estacada where they locked him in a storage container. Lee told detectives they planned to keep him there all night and let him out in the morning.
Police received an address from Lee and were able to safely locate and free the victim.
Bourland, Lee and Simmons all face three counts of kidnapping in the first degree; Lee also faces one count of assault in the second degree and one count of unlawful use of a weapon.
Portland police say the investigation is ongoing.
