A Gresham man with a lengthy criminal history was sentenced to 10 years in federal prison Wednesday after he was arrested transporting methamphetamine in Deschutes County.
Dennis Richard DeChenne Jr., 39, was sentenced to 130 months in federal prison and five years’ supervised release.
According to court documents, in April 2020, the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement (CODE) team began investigating DeChenne after learning he was involved in transporting large quantities of methamphetamine and heroin from the Portland area to Central Oregon for resale. Investigators determined that DeChenne, after transporting the drugs, would stay in a Bend, Oregon hotel for several days at a time and use local runners to sell the drugs.
Near midnight on August 19, 2020, CODE team members located DeChenne at a casino in southern Oregon. He was arrested the next day by Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office deputies. The deputies located two pounds of methamphetamine and a loaded pistol in DeChenne’s vehicle.
On July 28, 2021, DeChenne was charged by criminal information with possessing with intent to distribute methamphetamine. On April 7, 2023, he pleaded guilty to the single charge.
This case was investigated by CODE and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). It was prosecuted by Jeffrey S. Sweet, Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon.
The CODE team is a multi-jurisdictional narcotics task force supported by the Oregon-Idaho High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) program. CODE includes members of the Bend, Redmond, Prineville, Madras, Sunriver, and Black Butte Police Departments; the Warm Springs Tribal Police Department; the Deschutes, Crook, and Jefferson County Sheriff and District Attorney’s Offices; the Oregon State Police; the Oregon National Guard; DEA; and the FBI.
