Accident victim no stranger to authorities

Walter Lesley Mault, 32, who died in a one- vehicle accident near Camp Sherman the morning of September 5, was well known to the Deschutes County Sheriff's Department.

A Deschutes County grand jury indicted Mault July 25 on charges of possessing and manufacturing a controlled substance (methamphetamine), following an investigation by the Bend Police Department. He failed to make an August 28 court appearance to enter a plea and a warrant for his arrest was issued August 30.

Mault's prior record in Deschutes County included vehicle forfeitures for driving with a suspended license, eluding
officers, drunk driving and felony driving while suspended.

Mault died at the accident scene at about 5:20 a.m. September 5, when a Forest Service pickup he was driving at high speed failed to negotiate a right- angle turn near the junction of Highway 20 and Forest Road 14, rolled and slammed into a pine tree.

Mault, who had not been wearing a seat belt, was ejected from the vehicle.

According to sheriff's reports, he had taken the pickup, without permission, from a parking area adjacent to the Camp Sherman Fire Hall. Authorities established later that an older model compact car parked at the Fire Hall had been left there by Mault.

Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies, investigating the car, reported they found two 12- gauge shotguns and a 30- 30 Winchester Model 94 rifle inside. One of the guns had been reported stolen previously from Prineville.

The officers also found drug paraphernalia: a soda- pop can fashioned into a pipe for smoking marijuana; a small film canister with a spoon, commonly used to cook cocaine and methamphetamine; and some cotton containing drug residue. There were no needles in the car, according to Jefferson County Undersheriff Jim Adkins. The spoon also contained drug residue, he said.

A pair of women's shoes was found and a woman's belt with stains on it that the investigators thought might be dried blood or makeup. Sheriff Mike Throop of Jefferson County said the belt has not been sent away for analysis because of a backlog of cases at the state crime lab. All of the items found in the car remain in custody of the sheriff's department.

Adkins said many pornographic magazines were stashed in the vehicle.

Diana Pepperling, who manages Lake Creek Lodge, and her husband, Gary, were up early on the morning of the fatal crash. When Pepperling put her little dog, Mopsy, out before 5 a.m., she saw a man squatting in the doorway of a nearby shed, which was lighted. She said she didn't think he had broken into the shed.

She summoned Gary Pepperling, who shouted at the man, "Who's there?"

The man answered, "Walt."

"What are you doing?" Pepperling persisted.

"Getting stuff to fix my car," was the reply.

At this point, Mopsy, a Pomeranian/Pekingese cross, started to bark, and the man who identified himself as Walt took off on foot. Diana Pepperling said she didn't know whether he turned left or right (toward the fire hall) when he reached the road.

Karen Taylor, a Metolius Meadows resident, left home in the dark at 5:10 a.m. for her job as postmaster of Powell Butte. As she joined the main road from the Meadows, she noticed headlights well back on the road to the north (toward the fire hall).

As she drove up Road 14 near the intersection with Highway 20, Taylor said, "I saw a vehicle coming up behind me like a bullet, with his brights on. He dimmed his lights and passed me on a straightaway, going very fast." The vehicle was a pickup with its interior light on. Taylor saw only one person inside, she recalled.

"I thought to myself, I'm going to give this guy a lot of room." And, as the pickup neared the right- angle turn, "I hope he knows what he's doing."

When Taylor reached the turn, she could see the headlights of other traffic on the highway, but not the pickup. She did see what appeared to be fog ahead. This turned out to be a cloud of dust from the wreck.

When she saw what had happened, Taylor stopped, but did not get out of her car. She called 911 on her car phone. Emergency medical technicians Mark and Toni Foster of Camp Sherman were the first to respond.

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Department told The Nugget the last address they had for Mault was on South Highway 97 in Bend. Undersheriff Adkins of Jefferson County said Mault also had a post office box in Culver.