By RAELYNN RICARTE
News staff writer
March 11, 2008

The Hood River County Sheriff’s Office has arrested a subject for probation violations who is also a “person of interest” in two recent burglaries.

Fernando Silva-Gomez, 29, who has no known place of residence, was arrested after arriving at the courthouse to answer questions about his involvement in two Feb. 17 incidents.

According to reports, he denied driving a stolen car through the front entrances of Top to Bottom in Hood River and Pine Grove Grocery. Silva-Gomez was sought for questioning after a deputy claimed to have recognized his image on a surveillance video at one of the crime scenes.

Video footage at Top to Bottom shows a green Honda Civic being driven by a Hispanic male through the glass doors about 4:30 a.m. that Sunday. The vehicle that belonged to a Summit Drive resident was then used a few minutes later to penetrate the doors at Pine Grove Grocery. An undisclosed number of items were then quickly removed from both establishments by the suspect.

The car used for the break-ins was later found abandoned near Odell. The battered vehicle contained computer equipment that had been removed from a Ford Expedition belonging to Inter-Tribal Fisheries Enforcement. The agency’s SUV had been broken into on Feb. 17 while parked at the Westcliff Drive office.

Detective Gerry Tiffany said Silva-Gomez has denied taking part in either burglary. He said the man appeared not to know about the outstanding warrants for his arrest when he arrived at the courthouse. He was lodged behind bars for violating his probation on a prior conviction involving car theft and driving while under the influence of methamphetamine.

Tiffany said the blood of an unknown person was recovered from the Inter-Tribal vehicle. He said the DNA evidence is now being processed at the state crime lab to see if it matches that of Silva-Gomez. He said the image of the Honda driver that was captured on video is also at the lab to be further analyzed.

“We’ll know within the next few weeks whether he (Silva-Gomez) remains a person of interest,” said Tiffany.

Meanwhile, Pine Grove Grocery owner Tim Kuechmann is offering a $500 reward for the return of his business computer and a .40 caliber CZ handgun. He believes both items might have been sold by the perpetrator of the crimes to people unaware that they were obtained illegally.

“No questions asked. I just want my stuff back,” he said.

He said 25 packs of cigarettes and several cases of beer were also stolen from the business during the burglary. He said those items are probably long gone but the return of the computer could spare him the inconvenience of re-programming data.

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call Tiffany at 387-6846. Kuechmann can be contacted to arrange a return of the computer or gun at 386-4632.