1 year for false tax return

A former Bend resident who pleaded guilty in September to filing a false tax return and filing a false lien against a federal law enforcement officer who investigated the return has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Mark Timothy Ellis, 38, now of Oregon City, has been ordered to serve 12 months and one day in prison and three years of supervised release, and to repay $311,459 in restitution.

According to court documents, between 2007 and 2010 Ellis used illegal debt termination programs to fraudulently cancel his and other debts like home mortgages and credit card debts. An indictment alleged during that time Ellis also purchased and used trusts to hide his income and assets from the IRS, and prepared and filed false tax returns. As a result, the IRS issued him a tax refund of more than $327,000.

— Bulletin staff report

Scout leader faces sex abuse charge

A Prineville man who was a local scoutmaster has been arrested on charges of first-degree sex abuse, according to Oregon State Police.

James Allen Wilson, 36, turned himself in at the Deschutes County Jail on Friday, following his indictment by a grand jury in Klamath County.

Detectives with the OSP had been investigating allegations that Wilson sexually abused a juvenile male over several years. His association with the Boy Scouts ended after the investigation began.

BLM to remove more than 80 geocaches

The Bureau of Land Management plans to remove 84 geocaches, 47 permanently and the remaining 37 seasonally, in Central Oregon, the agency announced Friday.

The geocaches are found in wilderness areas and on other lands deemed environmentally sensitive, according to the BLM. The geocaches include locations in the Badlands Wilderness and land overseen by BLM near Horse Ridge, two places close to Bend and popular for the hobby.

Geocaching is an outdoor treasure hunting game in which participants use GPS devices to navigate to specific coordinates, according to the BLM. The “treasure,” or geocache, ranges from a container holding a sign-in log to a spot with a distinctive tree, rock or vista. The BLM changed policy in 2012 to prohibit geocache containers in wilderness areas.

The BLM’s Prineville District office is removing the geocaches to adhere to the updated rules. The office reports it is working with the Central Oregon geocaching community to do so.

— Bulletin staff reports