UPDATED Wednesday, March 20: Portland police have identified the man arrested Tuesday as 25-year-old Robin Sanford Bay. He had been given the moniker of “John Doe” because officers weren’t immediately able to identify him, police said.
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Police arrested a man Tuesday on accusations that he carjacked a podcast host in a Southeast Portland Burgerville drive-thru and later stole a pedestrian’s cellphone.
The man has been given the moniker of “John Doe” because officers weren’t immediately able to identify him, according to Portland police. He was booked into the Multnomah County Detention Center on suspicion of first-degree robbery, unlawful use of a motor vehicle and possession of a stolen motor vehicle.
Greg Nibler, who hosts Digital Trends Live and co-hosts the Funemployment Radio podcast, has since retrieved his 2003 green Ford Ranger. But the pickup’s keys, along with his work and personal laptops, are gone.
“The whole thing is surreal,” he told The Oregonian/OregonLive while waiting for a tow truck to move his pickup. “I still can’t believe this happened to me in broad daylight as I was trying to buy a burger.”
Nibler said he drove his pickup to the Burgerville at Southeast 12th Avenue and Hawthorne Boulevard around 11:30 p.m. during a lunch break between recording podcasts. He was waiting at the back of the line with his driver’s window open when a stranger walked up to the truck and demanded that Nibler buy him a burger.
Nibler said the man was holding a glass bottle and threatened to hit him unless he gave him food. Nibler refused.
“The thing is, if he had asked nicely and not held a bottle over my head, I probably would have bought him a burger,” Nibler said.
The stranger then demanded the truck, climbed into the truck bed and started tossing things out of it. Nibler said he had a cooler, tarps, camping equipment and other items there.
Nibler got out of his pickup and asked the man what he was doing. The man jumped down, ran toward Nibler and pushed past him into the driver’s seat. Nibler said he tried pulling the man out but did not succeed.
Nibler said the man reversed the truck in an apparent attempt to hit him. Then Nibler watched as the man drove his truck away.
He called 911 as he lost sight of his truck. Officers spoke to him for about 20 minutes until they received a call about a pickup matching Nibler’s description that had been abandoned in another area of Southeast Portland.
According to Portland police, officers tracked down the abandoned truck after receiving reports that a man had left the pickup in a driveway near the 600 block of Southeast Cesar Chavez Boulevard. Witnesses also told police that they saw the man steal someone’s cellphone. Police haven’t found that victim.
Police called Nibler when they confirmed the truck was his and drove him to his pickup.
Officers brought him to a patrol car where the suspect was sitting, and Nibler said he confirmed the man in the car was the person who stole the pickup.
Nibler said he’s glad officers took his case seriously and found the man. He hopes his laptops are found.
“In the grand scheme of things, I’m OK and things could have been much worse,” Nibler said.
Portland police asks anyone with information on John Doe’s identity, the alleged cellphone theft or any other information related to the carjacking to contact Detective Hiedi Housley at 503-823-1063 or hiedi.housley@portlandoregon.gov.
Nibler said he had to cancel an episode recording of Funemployment Radio because of the carjacking, but he plans to discuss what happened on Wednesday’s show.
-- Everton Bailey Jr.
ebailey@oregonian.com | 503-221-8343 |@EvertonBailey
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