Sentenced man allegedly asked son to shoot him

PORTLAND – A former Bend developer who was to start a 10-year prison sentence this summer in connection with a wide-ranging Central Oregon mortgage fraud scheme was arrested in Idaho after his son allegedly confessed he shot his father to delay his prison term.

The Oregonian reported the U.S. Marshals Service arrested Shannon Egeland on Thursday in Caldwell, Idaho, after his teenage son confessed that his father ordered the young man to shoot him in the legs in July, a day before he was to report to prison.

Egeland, 40, had moved to Caldwell from Oregon.

Egeland previously told authorities he had been shot on July 31 by a motorist he’d pulled over to assist.

The shooting broke a bone in one of Egeland’s legs and doctors later amputated one of his feet.

But investigators learned that Egeland had taken out a death and dismemberment policy just days before the shooting.

Investigators also noted that the assailant who allegedly shot Egeland did not steal Egeland’s wallet, cellphone or BMW.

Egeland was vice president of the now-defunct Desert Sun Development company, which orchestrated tens of millions of dollars in mortgage fraud between 2004 and 2008. Company President Tyler Fitzsimons was also sentenced, to more than seven years in prison.

Egeland pleaded guilty to fraud charges in June 2010; he was one of 12 indicted in the scandal and one of five facing prison terms.

One of the first people to cooperate when investigators began probing Desert Sun’s collapse, Egeland began resisting and trying to minimize his role after he realized he would have to plead guilty and go to prison, prosecutor said.

After entering his guilty plea, Egeland got into more trouble: He was convicted in Grant County of selling drugs within 1,000 feet of a school and then perjured himself when testifying at his trial, resulting in another conviction. And last June, he was convicted of theft for stealing $9 worth of goods from a Fred Meyer store.

At his sentencing in January, Egeland received a tougher penalty because he committed those crimes. He also was ordered to pay more than $13 million in restitution.

Egeland was to report for his prison sentence in May, but he persuaded a judge to postpone his report date.

The Desert Sun fraud primarily involved two schemes, one centered on commercial development projects and the other a home construction-flipping scheme.

Desert Sun officials falsified loan documents, securing construction loans for projects that were never completed and setting up investment real estate portfolios.

Egeland is lodged in the Multnomah County detention center, where he’s being kept on a federal hold.