The felony theft investigation into Melissa Fireside, the recently elected Clackamas County commissioner, will be reviewed, the Oregon Department of Justice stated Monday.
Citing a conflict of interest, Clackamas County District Attorney John Wentworth said he sent the inquiry to state attorneys on November 20. The district attorney’s office budget is approved by the county commission.
According to agency spokeswoman Roy Kaufmann, the Department of Justice will decide whether the Lake Oswego police investigation into Fireside yields enough evidence to submit the matter to a grand jury for potential charges.
According to Fireside’s attorney, Mark Cogan, police executed a search warrant on her Lake Oswego residence in late October, one week prior to the election, in relation to felony theft charges.
An ongoing investigation into aggravated identity theft and aggravated first-degree theft is cited in the search request, according to Cogan. A source claims that the accused victim is elderly.
Police Chief George Burke of Lake Oswego stated on Monday that patrol officers initially received a complaint about Fireside on September 30. Although he stated that detectives were involved earlier, the case was officially assigned to them on October 25.
He stated that the matter is proceeding according to the schedule that any investigation of that size would, but he declined to provide further details.
He asserted that nothing we have done or plan to do would cause it to move more slowly or more quickly. It is proceeding at the necessary rate to ensure that we are comprehensive, equitable, and impartial.
According to him, nothing on our end—at least not from an investigative procedure—changed in the slightest because of the parties involved.
The 43-year-old Democrat Fireside has not to comment on the probe thus far. Neither she nor her lawyer responded to a message on Monday asking for comment. The Facebook page and website for her campaign were no longer available.
In earlier interviews, she stated that she is a construction management consultant and that she is the owner of Resolute Consulting PDX, a company that, according to its website, provides strategic management, startup development, and virtual business coaching.
According to Fireside, she graduated with a Ph.D. from the private, for-profit online school Capella University.
In 2019, court documents detailed her financial situation and detailed a long-term relationship with a man who is the father of her child. She stated that she was seeking to launch a consulting business, mentioned that she taught an online college course, and put her income as minimum wage.
Her ex-partner filed court documents stating that the couple obtained a home loan in his name because of unidentified issues with Fireside’s credit. According to the court documents, everybody had a Lexus that was funded according to his credit.
Two properties in Clackamas County are connected to Fireside.
She lives in a house on Ash Street in Lake Oswego; county assessor records show she sold that home to her mother Gertrude in 2020 for $600,000.
County records show Gertrude Fireside, who is in her late 70s, took out a second loan on the home for about $119,852 in November 2023. The loan went through Unlock Partnership Solutions, which offers agreements that let homeowners tap their home equity for cash.
Oregon Secretary of State records list Fireside as the registered agent and member of a limited liability company that owns a West Linn property.
Assessor records show Fireside acquired the property at 1800 Killarney Drive in 2023 and transferred it a year later to her limited liability company. The assessor site does not list a sale price for the land, but shows a new home there was added to the tax rolls this year with a value of $876,000. The assessor lists the total market value of the property at $1.16 million.
The West Linn property is for sale for $1,295,000. It originally went on the market in August for $1,390,000; the price dropped in September, according to a real estate listing.
Taxes on the West Linn property total $11,896, of which a minimum of $3,965 was due Nov. 15. No payment has been made yet, according to the assessor s office.
Fireside won with 52% of the vote, ousting incumbent Mark Shull, who captured 48%. Commissioners are elected to four-year terms; each receives a salary of $130,213.
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