Man’s arrest includes felony gun charges

IRRIGON – Jason Allan Leach, 51, of Irrigon was arrested by Morrow County Sheriff’s deputies on the 1300 block of Southeast Idaho Avenue Saturday afternoon. He is charged with two felonies: being a felon in possession of a weapon and attempted unlawful use of a weapon.

Morrow County District Attorney Justin Nelson said the arrest stemmed from a domestic violence case. He also noted that he’s seeing more firearms-related charges.

“It seems like the cases I’ve seen recently are the use of a firearm as a scare tactic,” he said. “You know, kind of menacing the individual. Maybe they don’t even point the firearm at the individual, but just holding it to their side as they yell and make threats to an individual.”

Nelson said his office is concerned about people who use guns to threaten others.

“If charged, they should hopefully be held in custody until the resolution of the case, or strong conditions put in place if they are released by the court,” he said.

A check of the Umatilla County Jail roster Monday night showed Leach to no longer be in custody. Nelson said that during the day his bail was set by a judge at $50,000, so he could have bailed out by paying $5,000.

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