Police: Bend man robbed sushi bar employee, punched another before chase

Published 1:59 pm Monday, July 17, 2023

Police and witnesses chased a man through downtown Bend on Sunday after he allegedly took $300 from a sushi restaurant server’s apron and then punched another server in the face.

Ryan Matthew Supica, 35, was arrested on suspicion of third-degree robbery, second-degree criminal mischief and an outstanding warrant. He was charged by the Deschutes County District Attorney’s Office.

Bend Police responded to Brooks Street behind Pizza Mondo and the 5 Fusion & Sushi Bar at 9:42 p.m. on Sunday.

Witnesses told police that a man had asked for a glass of wine, but a sushi bar server told him the restaurant was closed, according to a press release from police spokeswoman Sheila Miller.

Police say the man then took money from that server, punched another server and ran south on NW Wall Street. Witnesses chased after him and called 911, Miller said.

A Bend Police officer later found the man on NW Idaho Street. The officer told him to stop but he fled, Miller said. Two police officers ran after the man for about four minutes before he stopped.

One officer pointed a Taser at him but did not deploy it. Another put the man on the ground and arrested him on NW Broadway Street by 9:54 p.m., Miller said.

Police found $300 in the man’s back pocket and returned it to the server, Miller said. He was taken to St. Charles Bend before being booked in the Deschutes County jail.

Since 2006, Supica has been charged or cited in at least 32 different criminal cases, according to court records.

“He is well known to police in the area,” Miller said Monday.

He has previously been reported as a chronic public masturbator who racked up at least a dozen counts of public or private indecency for exposing himself to women.

Former Deschutes County District Attorney John Hummel previously told The Bulletin that Supica experiences mental health issues.

Supica eventually pleaded guilty to criminal counts for exposing himself to female jail staff and a female nurse at St. Charles Bend and for kicking out a jail window.

When he was sentenced in 2018 to serve just under four years in prison, he had spent at least 17 months in the Deschutes County jail because of his subsequent offenses.

At the time, he was the jail’s longest serving inmate, according to news reports.

In June 2022, according to court records, he pleaded guilty to public indecency for publicly masturbating — again.