Lawrence Alan Roland booking photo. Photo: Washington County Sheriff’s Office
BANKS – A spokesperson with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office has confirmed that the suspect wanted in connection to an attempted kidnapping near Banks on the morning of Tuesday, September 10 was located and arrested shortly before 4 p.m. in Banks.
According to a press release from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office, deputies assigned to the city of Banks were dispatched to reports that a man was trying to force a woman into a vehicle near the Highway 6 and 47 intersection.
Deputies learned from the adult female at the scene that the suspect, a man she knew, had fled the scene on foot.
The suspect, 43-year-old Lawrence Alan Roland, is from Hillsboro.
According to the woman, Roland had been hiding inside her vehicle for hours while she dropped her child off at school, not knowing he was in the vehicle.
The woman tried to escape, but Roland forced her back inside the vehicle, holding her captive inside. He eventually left, leaving the woman unhurt, according to the sheriff’s office.
With eight to ten units searching around the Banks area with at least one K9 unit, all three schools in the Banks School District — including the elementary, middle, and high schools — as well as St. Francis of Assisi were placed in a lockout status for a short time, according to Washington County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Brian van Kleef.
Deputies did not locate Roland during the search, but shortly before 4 p.m., Roland returned to his vehicle, which was parked near the victim’s vehicle. Deputies arrested him and booked him into the Washington County Jail.
Roland is being charged with Kidnapping in the first degree and menacing.
This article has been updated with additional information from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
