BEND, Ore. (AP) — A 61-year-old Bend man is facing a criminal charge for allegedly threatening to have someone deported.
Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel said in a news release that Thomas Schlossmacher on Wednesday was charged with extortion.
The extortion statue was changed in 2016 to make it unlawful to threaten to report someone’s suspected immigration status to law enforcement in order to compel them to do something, according to the news release.
Last summer, Schlossmacher partially paid a Redmond man, who is a US citizen, for landscaping work by giving the man his pickup truck, Hummel said.
A dispute over the final payment details led Schlossmacher to send the man a text message demanding he respond or he would file a claim in court and contact the Immigration and Naturalization Service for the man and his family to be deported.
Schlossmacher told police in an interview that he “kinda felt” that Cardona was in the United States unlawfully and his intent in sending the message was to scare him,” according to the district attorney.
It wasn’t immediately known if Schlossmacher has a lawyer to comment on the case.