Suspect in 2025 armed robbery remains in Baker County Jail

Published 9:26 am Monday, March 9, 2026

Justin Dean Bridwell is awaiting transfer to the Oregon State Hospital for mental health treatment

BAKER CITY — A Huntington man accused of first-degree robbery in an incident a year ago near Durkee remains in the Baker County Jail while he waits to be transferred to the Oregon State Hospital in Salem for mental health treatment intended to make him able to assist in his defense

Justin Dean Bridwell, 37, was arrested in February 2025.

In late February 2025 a grand jury indicted Bridwell on four felony counts and one misdemeanor.

The most serious charge, first-degree robbery, carries a mandatory minimum prison sentence of seven years, six months on conviction.

Bridwell is accused of taking two vehicles from a resident near Durkee on Feb. 23, 2025, while accompanied by another man who brandished a gun and threatened to kill the resident during the incident. The second suspect has not been arrested. Michael Spaulding, chief deputy district attorney for Baker County who is prosecuting Bridwell, said there isn’t enough corroboration now to arrest the man suspected to be Bridwell’s accomplice.

On Feb. 3, Bridwell’s attorney, Damien Yervasi of Baker City, filed a notice stating that he “has concerns about whether (Bridwell) is presently unfit to proceed in this matter by reason of incapacity.”

On Feb. 17, Yervasi told Judge Matt Shirtcliff in Baker County Circuit Court that a psychologist who evaluated Bridwell in late January concluded he was not able to aid in his defense, but would be able to assist with treatment and medication.

Shirtcliff suspended the criminal case against Bridwell while he is in treatment.

During a brief hearing Monday morning, March 9, Shirtcliff said there is no vacancy in the state hospital. Bridwell will remain in the Baker County Jail until there is space available at the Salem hospital.

Shirtcliff scheduled a status check hearing for March 23 at 9 a.m.

Incident and arrest

Sgt. Craig Rilee of the Baker County Sheriff’s Office arrested Bridwell near Baker City on the afternoon of Feb. 23, 2025.

In a probable cause affidavit, Rilee wrote that at about 8:20 a.m. on Feb. 23, Bryan Boswell, who lives on Express Road in Durkee, called 911 to report that he had been robbed at gunpoint.

Boswell told Rilee that two adult men had entered his trailer and told him they were taking two vehicles. Boswell said Bridwell was one of the men, but he didn’t know the other man, who had the gun. Boswell said he knows Bridwell, who previously lived on the property for about a month a couple years ago.

Boswell told Rilee that Bridwell took the keys for a Chrysler Sebring owned by the late James Crawford, who also lived on the property. Bridwell and the other man drove away in a Honda Accord that Crawford also owned. Bridwell said the men also took the keys to his trailer and mailbox.

Rilee wrote in his affidavit that he drove to Durkee but didn’t see either the Honda or the blue car that Boswell said the two men arrived in. Rilee also photographed the Sebring, which was still on Boswell’s property.

Rilee wrote in his affidavit that about 12:52 p.m. on Feb. 23, Boswell called 911 again to report that Bridwell had returned to the Express Ranch property with two other men. Boswell said he and a neighbor watched a car pull up next to the Sebring and apparently jumpstart the car, which one of the men drove away.

Rilee wrote that while driving to Durkee he saw a Sebring that matched Boswell’s description, driving west on Interstate 84 near Milepost 321, about 17 miles southeast of Baker City.

Oregon State Police Trooper Tristan Sand stopped the Sebring on Old Highway 30 near Baker City after the driver exited the freeway at the South Baker City exit. Rilee wrote that Sand called him and said Bridwell was driving the Sebring.

Rilee wrote that he interviewed Bridwell after reading him his Miranda rights. Rilee wrote that Bridwell told him he had paid Crawford $700 for the Accord and the Sebring. Bridwell said he had a bill of sale but that it was either with his mother in Boise, or possibly in either Huntington or La Grande. Bridwell also claimed his mother had given him money to buy the cars.

Rilee wrote that he called Bridwell’s mother, who told him she did not help Bridwell “with the purchase of a vehicle in any way.”

Bridwell’s mother said her son had not left her with any paperwork involving a car purchase, but he had told her either the day before or two days earlier that he was working for somebody who would be giving him a car.

Bridwell was released from the Baker County Jail on April 23, 2025, but after he failed to attend a court hearing on June 4, Shirtcliff signed an arrest warrant for Bridwell.

He was arrested in Union County and transferred to the Baker County Jail on June 11. Bridwell has been in the jail since, on bail of $125,000. He could be released by posting 10% of that amount.

In addition to the first-degree robbery count, Bridwell is charged with first-degree burglary, coercion and unauthorized use of a vehicle, all felonies, and third-degree theft, a misdemeanor.

He pleaded not guilty to all charges. On July 23, 2025, Bridwell waived his right to a speedy trial.

Bridwell was indicted on multiple felony charges in June 2020 for allegedly stealing a gun in Huntington, and pointing a gun at another man during a different theft, also in Huntington.

The district attorney’s office dismissed those charges in February 2021 because a victim who could have testified against Bridwell at trial was not available.

The charges were dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could potentially be refiled.