Police: Robbery part of plot to kidnap Gert Boyle
StoryDiscussionPolice: Robbery part of plot to kidnap Gert Boyle
Associated Press | Posted: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 5:26 pm | No Comments Posted

Font Sizeefault font sizeLarger font size.A robbery at Columbia Sportswear leader Gert Boyle's Oregon home was part of a larger plot to kidnap the 86-year-old woman, according to police and court documents.

A Clackamas County grand jury indictment released Wednesday charged three men with kidnapping, burglary, robbery and conspiracy in the case.

The indictment identified Nestor Gabriel Cabellero Guitierrez as the ringleader in a plot that allegedly began about 10 months ago when Cabellero began recruiting conspirators.

The indictment accuses Cabellero, 39, of recruiting Ramon Alberto Midence, 41, who in turn recruited Jose Luis Arevalo, 47.

All three suspects are Honduran immigrants from the suburban Beaverton area and were being held at the Clackamas County Jail in Oregon City.

Arevalo, who was arrested Monday, told officers he planned to kidnap Boyle in exchange for $20,000, according to booking papers filed with the Clackamas County Jail.

It's unclear whether Arevalo was to be paid $20,000 for his services or if the plot involved a plan to hold Boyle ransom for that amount. A police spokesman declined to elaborate while the investigation is ongoing.

The alleged plot unraveled when authorities say Boyle fooled a robber on Nov. 10, telling him she had to disable the security alarm when she instead tripped a silent alarm that summoned police to her home in West Linn, a Portland suburb.

The robber escaped, but Cabellero was arrested hours later, carrying some of Boyle's jewelry, police said.

Officers arrested Midence after he admitted to police he had an "intimate discussion" about planning the crime against Boyle. Police say he admitted to dropping Cabellero at Boyle's home and waiting in a vehicle up the street.

Police offered few details about the kidnap and ransom plot, first reported by KGW-TV.

The station also reported that state records showed Cabellero ran a Portland advertising agency that catered to Hispanic clients until it closed about a year ago, and that a $315,000 loan on his primary residence in Sherwood was foreclosed in December 2009.

Boyle was roughed up when the robber tied her hands but she wasn't seriously injured, police said.

She burnished her hard-nosed reputation after her husband died of a heart attack and she took over Columbia, based in Oregon, in 1970. In the 1980s, a national ad campaign showed her putting her son, Tim, and the products through extreme tests and her flexing her biceps tattooed with the words "Born to Nag."

Columbia Sportswear Company made $52.2 million in the quarter ending Sept. 30.

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