Wood requested mental health commitment prior to carjacking arrest in TD

By Tom Peterson 

Daniel Lee Wood III - Umatilla County Sheriff’s Department circa 2018

A man arrested on suspicion of stealing a car at knifepoint on Jan. 24 at a restaurant in The Dalles had appeared in Wasco County Circuit Court earlier the same day requesting to enter into a mental health commitment.

Daniel Lee Wood III, 31, was on a conditional release until his next hearing date of Feb. 28.

He didn’t make it.

Just 10 hours after the hearing, he allegedly committed first-degree robbery and second-degree assault and 5 other crimes on reports he stole a BMW at knifepoint at the Orient Cafe in The Dalles at 8:25 p.m. on Jan. 24. 

He eluded police for more than an hour as a phone left in the stolen vehicle was used to track his position, according to local police reports. 

He attempted to run an officer over with the vehicle during the chase, according to Oregon State Police.

He was finally boxed in at the parking lot at Cascade Square and was tased by an Oregon State Police trooper before being taken to jail. 

Troubled Past

Wood had come up against the law on several occasions before in Wasco County. 

Court records reveal that Wood is the same person who went to prison for a first-degree burglary conviction for kicking in the door of a home in The Dalles on Thanksgiving in 2017 as the frightened owner of the house dialed 911 in a state of panic.
His sentence of 40 months in prison, handed down in February of 2018 by Circuit Court Judge Janet Stauffer, allowed Wood to be considered for any form of reduction in sentence and gave credit for the time he had already served in jail. The judgment also states the defendant was found to be a drug-dependent person.

Return to TD
Wood was out of prison by Dec. 18,  2019 - 23 months later, according to court documents. He received a speeding ticket on Highway 101 near North Bend on that day.
He eventually returned to The Dalles, and he committed new crimes, according to Oregon’s Judicial Information Network.
In 2020 and 2021, The Wasco County District Attorney’s Office brought 6 different criminal cases against him.

Wood pleaded guilty to theft of a motorcycle, harassment and fourth-degree assault for crimes committed in November 2020 and March 2021. He was sentenced to 60 days jail and 18 months probation.
Cases kept stacking up. Within another month, he was facing two more criminal cases. He allegedly stole a car from a used car dealership on Sixth Street and stole a cell phone in April 2021. In July, he was also charged with felon in possession of a firearm, unlawful use of a weapon, felon in possession of a restricted weapon and trespassing. And, he was facing a parole violation when police alleged he was in possession of a methamphetamine pipe.
On Sept. 2, Circuit Court Judge Stauffer approved a conditional release for Wood to enter a program for substance use disorders at Eastern Oregon Recovery Center in Pendleton. Hearings on his progress followed monthly.

The conditional release, which remained in place until the alleged carjacking, stated, “I will appear in Circuit Court for the State of Oregon… and thereafter as ordered by the court until discharged or final order of the court.”

A Ray Of Hope

In a motion for Woods by Defense Attorney Jeff Wallace on Dec. 2, Wallace stated Woods had successfully completed his treatment program through the Recovery Center and had moved to transitional housing called Sober House in Pendleton.
And on Dec. 13, court documents show that Wood was considering a “possible mental health commitment.”

He was due to plead to the cases involving a stolen car, cell phone and weapons charges in Wasco County Circuit Court on Jan. 24.
In a phone text conversation via attorney Wallace, Wood agreed to appear on Jan. 24.

Wasco County District Attorney Matthew Ellis

On that day, Wood asked the court for a mental health commitment, according to the court record.

It didn’t happen right away. 

Rather, Wood was given a new hearing date of Feb. 28th, and he continued on his conditional release.

Wasco County District Attorney Matthew Ellis said on Friday, Jan. 28 that Wood was supposed to move into transitional housing that day but didn’t go. He also said the case pointed out the need for additional mental health resources in Oregon.  

“There’s not enough,” he said. 

Wood’s attorney, Jeff Wallace, refused to comment on the case, noting attorney-client privilege.

Arraignment
Woods is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday, Feb. 3, on new charges related to his alleged car theft and robbery.
He remained in NORCOR on $41,700 bail today, Feb. 2, and is facing the following new charges related to the car theft and chase on Jan. 24: first-degree robbery, second-degree assault, unlawful use of a weapon, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, first-degree attempted assault, second-degree attempted assault, attempted assault on a public safety officer and menacing.

Mental Health 

“It’s a failure of the mental health resources,” said Wasco County District Attorney Matthew Ellis on Friday, Jan. 28.

There are limited beds in Oregon State Hospital that provides patient-centered, psychiatric treatment for adults from throughout the state who need hospital-level care, according to the Oregon Health Authority. With two campuses, one in Salem and one in Junction City, Oregon State Hospital serves more than 1,500 people per year. The Salem campus has the capacity to serve up to 554 people at a time, and the Junction Campus can serve up to 96.

And the waiting list is long.

Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill

Local Push

“Historically regional law enforcement transported those individuals to Eastern Oregon Psychiatric Center (EOPC) in Pendleton,” Wasco County Sheriff Lane Magill told CCCNews back in September 2021 about people experiencing a mental crisis. “EOPC was a kind of crisis, respite, semi-long term facility where people could receive treatment in a safe and secure environment.”

But that facility was shuttered years ago.

No Rooms
There are just 173 beds for people with acute psychosis currently in all of Oregon, Magill said during a City Council meeting in The Dalles in October 2020. 

There are 4.2 million people in Oregon.

At the same meeting, Hood River County Commissioner Karen Joplin said the ability to monitor and house people with mental imbalances has been “ripped out of the communities at a local level by the state and never been restored.” 

Legislature Recognizes the Need

The legislature invested $474.4 million into a behavioral health bill package last session in June 2021, according to stateofreform.com. Certified community behavioral health clinics (CCBHCs), which provide mental health and substance abuse treatment regardless of insurance coverage, received $121 million, the website states. Another $130 million was allocated toward increasing capacity for licensed residential facilities for those with behavioral health needs. 

The package, championed by Senator Kate Lieber and Representative Rob Nosse, contained funding to grow the behavioral health workforce, expand behavioral health services, and make additional investments into Oregon’s behavioral health system, according to a press release from Lieber’s office.

“This isn’t just about historic investments,” Lieber said. “This is about making transformational change within a siloed system, which isn’t working for everyday Oregonians. These investments will give us the opportunity to deliver the high-quality behavioral health services that our communities need. Oregonians cannot wait on these investments any longer.”