Clackamas Deputies Rescue Kittens, Arrest People, Recover Stolen Goods

DAMASCUS, OR — It started with a call to 911 reporting people with headlamps going through a car. Before long, there was a chase involving a gold pickup truck, two people under arrest, a garage filled what deputies described as "stolen goods" and three kittens that are now being cared for by the Oregon Humane Society.

Deputies arrived at a house in the 16600 block of Southeast Widgeon Lane in Damascus around 11:30 p.m. on Monday, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said. Callers reported people with headlamps going through cars and said that this had been happening for several weeks, the sheriff's office said.

Deputies saw a gold pickup truck pull away as they arrived, the sheriff's office said. Deputies gave chase but lost sight of the truck around Southeast 82nd Avenue and Southeast Lambert Street, according to officials.

The truck was then spotted by Portland police around Southeast 171st Avenue and Powell Boulevard, the sheriff's office said.

Soon after, Gresham police reported that the truck had been abandoned on the MAX tracks at Northeast 172nd Avenue and East Burnside Street, officials said. Gresham police determined that the truck had been stolen, police said.

Gresham police said that they told Portland police that the driver had run into the Burnside Firs apartments two blocks away.

That's where Portland police, working with a K-9 officer, located and arrested Paul Angelo Costello, a 35-year-old man with no fixed address, according to Portland police.

Court records showed that Costello was charged with unauthorized use of a vehicle, possession of a stolen vehicle, attempt to elude a police officer, reckless driving and parole violation. He was being held in the Clackamas County Jail. Ball was set at $32,500.

Meanwhile, back on Widgeon Lane, deputies arrested Yuri T. Zvodzdetskiy, 31, of Damascus, the sheriff's office said. They found him sitting in the back seat of a black four-door sedan. He was wearing a headlamp, the sheriff's office said.

He was carrying "a large sack of credit/debit cards belonging to other people," as well as fentanyl pills, cash, a picket knife and keys that had been altered to fit into several different types of car, according to the sheriff's office. The plates on the sedan had been switched, the sheriff's office said.

Zvodzdetskiy was also being held in the Clackamas County Jail, court records said. He was charged with identity theft and theft 1 (possession of stolen property), the records said.

Deputies also found a John Deere Gator utility vehicle, a trailer and a white van with switched plates, the sheriff's office said.

On Tuesday, deputies searched the house and found a "trove of items ... found to be stolen," according to the sheriff's office. The items included pills, wallets, firearms, tools, catalytic converters, scooters, clothing and identity documents, the sheriff's office said.

Clackamas County Sheriff's Office

Deputies also found three kittens, just days old. After a search to find the mother, the kittens were turned over to the Oregon Humane Society, where they are being treated," the sheriff's office said.

The sheriff's office asked anyone with information about the case to call a Tip Line at 503-723-4949 or complete an email form.