A Madras man with an office job was arrested this month on suspicion of selling methamphetamine from his home.

Gabriel Dewayne Walker, 33, had been head of sales and marketing for Warm Springs Telecom since the broadband provider was founded in 2010. He was still employed there at the time Warm Springs Police arrested him this month on suspicion of making and selling meth following a three-month investigation.

Reached this week, a Warm Springs Telecom representative said Walker no longer worked there and declined further comment.

Police were tipped off to Walker’s alleged side business in January, when one of his buyers was arrested and gave him up for help on his own case, according to a search warrant affidavit by the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement task force released last week.

The informant allegedly said Walker was his dealer and sold meth around Madras and Warm Springs, and that he had several people selling it for him. He said Walker had cameras outside his house so he could monitor his driveway, and he kept a shotgun near his front door.

Officers staked out Walker from the Warm Springs Telecom parking lot on Holiday Street in Warm Springs. Over the coming weeks, they oversaw two informants who purchased meth from Walker multiple times, at his house and locations around Madras, the court documents state.

Around 5:15 p.m. April 6, Walker was pulled over by a Warm Springs Police officer and told the Central Oregon Drug Enforcement task force wanted to search his Jeep.

“Gabriel Walker immediately said there was no need to have the narcotics dog search the vehicle because he would tell me where the dope was,” Warm Springs Police officer Clayton Hagen wrote in his arrest report.

Five grams of meth was found in a container under his seat, along with a scale, according to police. In the middle of the back seat, inside a child-safety seat, was a 9 mm pistol containing five bullets. “The child seat and pistol were both within arm’s reach of the driver’s seat,” Hagen wrote.

While Walker was being interviewed by officers, CODE detectives searched his house.

Walker confessed to Warm Springs Police Detective Levi Dowty that he’d been a meth dealer for a little over a year. He said he typically buys up to a half-ounce of meth, breaks it into smaller quantities and sells it for profit, according to the arrest report.

In his garage at his home at 590 SE Conifer Court, police found a corked glass jar with a white powder substance inside, according to an evidence report.

Walker purchased a house in a Madras subdivision for $106,000 in February 2014, according to land use records.

From 2015 to 2018 he ran a business, Native Telecom, from his home address, according to the state business registry.

He was arraigned April 12 in Jefferson County Circuit Court. He’s pleaded not guilty to all charges.

He has a court-appointed attorney who didn’t immediately return a message.

— Reporter: 541-383-0325, gandrews@bendbulletin.com