Alleged Craigslist robber arrested after 3-hour standoff - News - MailTribune.com - Medford, OR

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Alleged Craigslist robber arrested after 3-hour standoff Craiglist robbery suspect Brandon Soares, 19, is taken into police custody after he was found hiding in an attic Monday at the corner of North Ivy and Fourth streets. [Mail Tribune / Denise Baratta] Monday Apr 24, 2017 at 2:55 PM Apr 24, 2017 at 7:46 PM Mark Freeman Mail Tribune @MTwriterFreeman Medford police found and arrested their suspected Craigslist robber on Monday after a three-hour standoff outside a west Medford house, where he was found hiding under attic insulation, police said. An anonymous tip led investigators around 1:30 p.m. to the house, converted into apartments in the 200 block of North Ivy Street, in search of Brandon Soares, 19, according to the Medford Police Department. Police at the apartment quickly arrested an unidentified 18-year-old man on an outstanding warrant, and that man said that Soares was in the upstairs unit, police said. Medford police Lt. Justin Ivens said officers called for Soares to exit the apartment, then cordoned off the block and stationed armed officers around the perimeter in plain sight of passing Fourth Street motorists while investigators sought and received a search warrant. Police, with the assistance of cameras and a Jackson County Sheriff's Office police dog, searched the three apartments, including a downstairs apartment where 30-year-old Wes McEvers was watching his two children. McEvers said he agreed to police's request to search his apartment, where he said they poked into the ceiling. "I hope they know he's in there, since they're tearing my apartment up," McEvers said. "I understand their point, though." The armed commotion drew the attention of passersby and nearby residents who stood with cellphones trained on officers before losing interest, only later to be replaced by other gawkers. When officers went into the attic, they found Soares hiding under insulation and he gave up without a struggle shortly after 4 p.m., Ivens said. Ivens said at the scene that investigators planned to get Soares medically checked out "because he was up there hiding a long time," then interview and ultimately lodge him in the Jackson County Jail on yet-undetermined charges. The street was open less than five minutes after Soares' arrest. Soares is suspected of robbing a man he'd met at the YMCA parking lot nearby on a ruse of buying gaming equipment the victim had advertised on Craigslist. The robbery occurred just after 9 p.m. April 17 at the Rogue Valley Family YMCA parking lot at 522 W. Sixth St., about three blocks from where Soares was arrested. Soares allegedly pulled out a gun and robbed the victim, a 30-year-old man, of his XBox One and some games that he'd advertised on Craigslist before fleeing on foot, police said. Police identified Soares as the suspect and posted his image on Facebook. At the scene, Ivens said he could not immediately confirm whether a Facebook viewer was the tipster. McEvers said he was new to the apartments and didn't know who lived at that location, but he said there was a steady stream of visitors to it. — Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman.