Oregon man smashes museum window, escapes with ‘numerous gold items’

An Oregon man smashed a window at a museum on Sunday and stole “numerous gold items” from inside before fleeing the scene, according to officials.

Deputies with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office responded at about 2:30 a.m. Sunday to a break-in alarm at the Rice Northwest Museum of Rocks and Minerals on Groveland Drive, where they discovered a broken window leading into the building and footprints heading south from the museum.

According to the sheriff’s office, deputies immediately set up containment in the area and used a K9 track to try and locate the suspect, but he was able to escape.

Deputies and museum staff searched the museum and found “a significant theft from a large display case containing numerous gold items,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a news release. 

The sheriff’s office said the total value of the missing items is not being released at this time.

The suspect was captured in security footage at the museum, according to deputies.

He is described as an average-built adult White male wearing jeans and a jacket.

The incident remains under investigation.