Copyright The Oregonian
Oregon Department of Justice officials on Tuesday said they continue to look for the former Clackamas County commissioner who appears to have fled the country before she faced trial on felony theft allegations. Melissa Fireside, 44, remains at large after disappearing last month with her school-aged son, authorities say. “There is an active effort to get her back,” said Jenny Hansson, a spokesperson for the agency. The father of Fireside’s 9-year-old told The Oregonian/OregonLive this week that he fears for the boy’s safety after learning Fireside pulled him out of school and, according to state law enforcement officials, took off. Cody Bellamy, 44, said Fireside vanished with their child sometime in the past two weeks and he’s “just wondering if I’m ever going to see him again.” Department of Justice authorities announced late Friday that the former Clackamas County commissioner may have used fake identification and an Austrian passport to flee, according to court filings. Prosecutors moved to revoke her conditional release after learning she is no longer living at the address she provided the court. She was living in Lexington, a tiny community in Morrow County. Officials searched for Fireside’s travel records with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration, according to court filings. They found she had a reservation to fly from Mexico to Amsterdam at 2:30 p.m. last Thursday. She used an Austrian passport to make the flight reservation with Dutch Royal Airlines and she may have used fake identification to cross the border into Mexico, according to court filings. Justice Department officials declined to elaborate on what they know about Fireside’s movements. Fireside was elected last November but served only two months in office, resigning from the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners March 7. Her tenure imploded amid allegations that she stole from a man who lived in an assisted living facility. She faces allegations of aggravated first-degree theft, using a computer to commit theft, first-degree theft, identity theft and first-degree forgery, all felonies. According to authorities, Fireside coached her mother’s longtime companion on how to reset his bank account login. She then allegedly posed as the man in emails to get $30,000 in loans. The victim, Arthur W. Petrone, was a retired Safeway worker who lived in an assisted living facility and was her mother’s boyfriend. He died in August. Fireside is also accused of forging the man’s signature and that of state Rep. April Dobson, D-Happy Valley. Bellamy said Fireside had full custody of his son and he hadn’t seen the boy since March 2023. In the aftermath of the criminal case, Fireside and her son moved to Morrow County property owned by Bellamy’s parents, who helped watch the boy. “She was given a place to stay,” Bellamy said. “My mom and dad were going to take care of her, let her stay there for free.” It is unclear if she worked in Morrow County. Court records show creditors this year pursued Fireside for about $38,000 in unpaid credit card bills. Her trial was set to begin later this year. Bellamy, a truck driver who lives in Michigan, said sometime last month Fireside told his parents she planned to take her dog to Portland for a veterinarian visit. But she hadn’t returned by last Tuesday and his mother grew concerned, he said. Bellamy said he tried Fireside’s cell, but it went to voicemail. “And then I was like, what the heck’s going on here?” he said. He said he called Heppner Elementary School and learned the boy had been withdrawn from the school. He said he then alerted Oregon law enforcement authorities that Fireside was gone. “I just have no idea whether I’m gonna see my kid again or not,” he said. “He’s just gonna be a kid that’s on the run. That’s gonna be scary at nine years of age. … I do fear for my son’s safety.”
