Career Criminal Frustrates Oregon Police Department

Eric One Ziegler has been a thorn in law enforcement's side for more than a decade, Medford police Lt. Mike Budreau said. "We have had to deal with him several times over the years," he said.

June 18, 2012

3 min read

June 18--Eric One Ziegler is back in an all-too-familiar place -- the Jackson County Jail.

Ziegler, 39, was arrested late last month on charges related to methamphetamine, theft, breaking into cars and a parole violation. He remains lodged in the jail without bail.

Ziegler has been a thorn in law enforcement's side for more than a decade, Medford police Lt. Mike Budreau said. "We have had to deal with him several times over the years," Budreau said. "But we aren't the true victims. Ziegler has stolen the identities of many people and committed other crimes that have affected the residents of Medford."

The latest case against Ziegler involves him breaking into a car outside Rogue Valley Medical Center. He targeted a purse inside the car, Budreau said.

"That's what he does," Budreau said. "He isn't interested in stealing money out of a purse. He's an identity thief. He wanted to get at any credit cards or documents inside the purse."

Medford police eventually tracked Ziegler to the Motel 6 on Alma Drive, where they found him in possession of methamphetamine and a syringe, Budreau said. "We believe this isn't his only crime since he was recently released from prison," he said.

Ziegler has admitted to breaking into hundreds of cars over the years and stealing items worth thousands of dollars from them.

He also was convicted of stealing the victims' identities to rob them again from behind bars.

While still in prison, he stole the victims' information from police reports provided to him by his probation officer to commit identity theft. He pleaded guilty to two counts of identity theft and was sentenced to another two years in prison in 2010.

In 2004, he pleaded guilty to a dozen charges, including first-degree burglary, aggravated first-degree theft, first-degree theft and identity theft, for a spree that had police scrambling to solve a huge increase in car break-ins and burglaries across the Rogue Valley. He was sentenced to six years in prison.

He qualified for early release and got out of prison in May 2009. In a matter of days, he was arrested on theft and welfare fraud charges for allegedly lying on a food-stamp application while he was living at a transitional center that provided him with meals. He was found not guilty of those charges.

Budreau is hoping these latest charges, which include a probation violation, could send Ziegler back to prison for years.

"He clearly is not correcting his behavior," Budreau said. "As far as we know, he has never committed a violent crime, so his sentences have always been somewhat short. We want him to go away for a while in light of this latest arrest."