Here's a one sided attack against Mr. Oakes from Salem PD trying to cover his own ass. Ask the child's mother for the truth. She witnessed our searchdogs working and locating her son's remains.
When the victim's mother went to the Stateman Journal and told the truth, they covered it up. The mother witnessed my search, me telling her where her son's remains were. The detective bringing in Oregon State Cert. SAR dogs who said there was NOTHING THERE In the pond. She also witness her son's remains floating to the surface 3 'inches from my search flagging where I said he was.
Also ask Janna Russell, Harry Oakes's support team member who was present with her search dog.
And ask pull the 911 tapes that show I called 911, flagged the location and the victim's remains surfaced 3 inches from my flagging after this detective told the victim's mother that, "I wasn't telling the truth". Ask Polk County Sheriff's office how many documented finds I have with their agency. Yamhill County, Skamania County and Clark County.
I have a saying "Put up or shut up".
To: Salem PD Detective
I have a saying "Put up or shut up".
To: Salem PD Detective
From Mr. Oakes, as a former police officer of 12 years, you are a disgrace to the badge when you lie, and I will tell you right here you are a liar.
from harry oakes.
Here's the one sided report
Salem detective disputes Oakes' version of search
Longview search dog owner Harry Oakes is taking credit for finding the body of a missing Salem teenager. The Salem Police Department tells a different story.
Oakes, who moved his unusual for-profit search-and-rescue business to Longview last year, did participate in the June search for Scott Spansel Jr, a missing 15-year-old, as he claimed in a letter to the editor published Wednesday in the Daily News.
"Our search dogs were the first and only dogs to locate Scott's remains," Oakes wrote, attributing the statement to friends of the victim's family.
Salem police department Det. Jake Burke said Oakes didn't exactly find the body.
"It was an unfortunate citizen who was walking in the area that found the body," Burke said Thursday.
Oakes owns International K-9 Search and Rescue Services, using his dog Valorie. He was formerly with Portland-based Mountain Wilderness, but was fired after an investigation by the Oregon Department of Justice found that he was using that organization's tax-exempt status to avoid paying taxes.
As part of an "assurance of voluntary compliance" to which he agreed, Oakes was barred from holding himself out to the public or law enforcement as a charity or representing his professional locating services as a public service.
Burke said Oakes' actions in Salem did not appear to violate that provision because Oakes was providing his services, usually billed at $200 an hour, for free.
Still, Burke said, Oakes' efforts did not help the investigation and may have hindered it. Burke said he had not heard of Oakes prior to the Spansel case, but when he volunteered his services Burke was happy to have the additional help and asked him to show up the next day with other dog teams.
Instead, Oakes showed up that evening and conducted his own search.
"He went behind my back and went out and did this," Burke said.
Oakes, as he wrote in his letter, called 911 to report that his search dogs had "alerted" on a large pond at the park. That pond already was the focus of the search, Burke said, as Spansel's friends had reported him walking into the pond, but not coming out. His glasses and clothing items already had been found in or around the pond.
Burke said Oakes also interviewed witnesses to Spansel's disappearance, which interfered with and could have hindered the police investigation, because police, at that point, didn't know whether they were dealing with a homicide, a missing person or a runaway.
"I told him that if he interfered with the investigation, he'd be arrested," Burke said.
Two people who allegedly provided Spansel with alcohol that day were charged in July with furnishing liquor to a minor in connection with the death.
Oakes was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Search-and-rescue professionals, including those in Longview and in Oregon, have in the past clashed with Oakes, calling his efforts self-serving and his dog's training questionable.
Oakes, in turn, has complained the search-and-rescue establishment has conspired against him and resents his claimed successes.
In his letter to the editor, Oakes said "state-certified" dog teams were unable to find Spansel's remains. Burke disputed that, and said he was troubled by Oakes' unwillingness to work with law enforcement as dog teams from Polk and Yamhill counties did.
"The other dog handlers worked through me, they did everything they could to try to find (Spansel,)" Burke said.
Cowlitz County search-and-rescue leaders said they are uninterested in having Oakes work with them, and Burke said he now feels the same way.
"I won't use him again," he said. "I didn't use him this time."
