REEDSPORT, Ore. — A 20-year-old man has been arrested after allegedly dumping bleach into an Oregon fish hatchery tank while claiming to be "high on marijuana," according to a Douglas County probable cause document.
On Monday, the suspect, Joshua Heckathorn, broke into the Salmon Trout Enhancement Program (STEP) facility in Gardiner. A Douglas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) patrol deputy saw Heckathorn walking south along Highway 101, then encountered him again the same evening behind a locked gate in the hatchery facility.
According to the probable cause document, Heckathorn came onto the property and broke the storage shed's handle, taking a bottle of bleach from a storage shed, which he poured into a pond. Nearly 18,000 young Chinook salmon were killed as a result, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW).
When Heckathorn was interviewed by police, he was "shaking with nervousness, sweating, and at one pointed puked," the probable cause document said. Heckathorn said he had trouble remembering the day's details "due to being high on marijuana at the time of the crime."
However, Heckathorn did admit to trespassing at the hatchery and removing the jug of bleach from the storage shed, though he didn't recall if he dumped the contents into the pond.
Heckathorn was taken to Douglas County Jail on charges of second-degree burglary, criminal trespass and criminal mischief. He also faces charges of poaching and making a toxic substance available to wildlife, as well as possible additional penalties, according to the ODFW.
The maximum civil penalty in Oregon for poaching a Chinook salmon is $750, but courts have the authority to multiply that per fish taken. Since nearly 18,000 fish were killed, Heckathorn faces "a judgement in this case potentially raising the amount to over $13 million," according to Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Sergeant Levi Harris.
“The killing of these fish is a real blow to the STEP Program Volunteers, ODFW, fishermen, and the community as a whole,” said Harris in a press release. “In my 25 years as a game warden, this is one of the most senseless acts I have seen."
The STEP program was created in 1981, and in addition to hatching and rearing salmon and trout eggs, volunteers do stream habitat restoration work, conduct surveys and educate the public.
The 18,000 fish would have joined approximately 60,000 other fall Chinook pre-smolts released in June, according to the ODFW. The dead fish will be frozen for future evidence in the criminal case.
“You get attached to those fish,” said Deborah Yates, president of the Gardiner, Reedsport and Winchester Bay STEP program. “When nature does something, it’s crushing. But it’s nature and it happens.
"But when someone comes in and does something like this, you can’t wrap your head around it. We have so many hours wrapped up in those fish, to have someone come in so cavalier, and kill them, it doesn’t make sense.”
