Date: Feb. 26, 2026 

Case #: Prineville PD Case 2026-000136 

Incident: CODE arrests Redmond and Prineville residents after short-term investigation 

Date of Incident: Feb. 21, 2026 / 12:30 a.m. 

Location: U.S. Highway 26 & NW Cherry Lane, Madras  

Arrested: Katen Von Blalack, 39-year-old Redmond resident 
Offenses: Unlawful Delivery of Fentanyl 

Arrested: Luke Berton Estes, 36-year-old Prineville resident 
Offenses: Unlawful Possession of Fentanyl 

The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement team recently completed a short-term investigation into the sale of methamphetamine and fentanyl in Deschutes and Crook counties. A Prineville Police detective initiated the investigation after learning of drug distribution in Prineville. Katen Von Blalack, a 39-year-old Redmond resident, was identified as a suspect.  

At approximately 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office conducted a traffic stop on a gray Nissan Versa for multiple traffic violations. Luke Berton Estes, a 36-year-old Prineville resident, was driving the vehicle, and Blalack was a passenger in the vehicle.  

During that stop, Jefferson County Sheriff’s drug detection K9 Keira alerted to the odor of drugs in the vehicle, and a Prineville Police detective wrote a search warrant to search the vehicle and its occupants. Officers located a commercial amount of fentanyl in the glove box and trunk of the vehicle, individually packaged in baggies. Officers also located user amounts of fentanyl on Blalack and Estes, as well as drug paraphernalia, a scale and cash.  

CODE wishes to thank the Prineville Police Department, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, and the Redmond Police Department for their assistance in this investigation.  

The Central Oregon Drug Enforcement (CODE) team is a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force supported by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program and the following Central Oregon law enforcement agencies: Bend Police Department, Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office, Redmond Police Department, Prineville Police Department, Crook County Sheriff’s Office, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, Madras Police Department, Oregon State Police, Sunriver Police Department, Black Butte Police Department, United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Warm Springs Tribal Police Department, Deschutes, Crook and Jefferson County District Attorneys, and the Oregon National Guard. The Oregon-Idaho HIDTA program is an Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP)-sponsored counterdrug program that coordinates and provides funding resources to multi-agency drug enforcement task forces to disrupt or dismantle local, multistate and international drug trafficking organizations.