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It is not clear what Expo Center director Matthew Rotchford knew about the nature of Heller’s business when he signed Metro’s first contract with the company in March 2020. Heller made a request to rent the Expo Center again this year. The cops arrested two suspects.Īn agent for the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives told the news media that the guns, taken from a hotel parking lot after leaving the Portland Expo Center, were in the “wrong hands” and “a threat to the safety of the community.” The ATF did not respond to WW’s inquiries about whether the guns were recovered.ĭespite security concerns, the shows were still profitable, Zielke said. They didn’t make it far police stopped the truck and trailer with spike strips, and they jackknifed in the middle of the Interstate Bridge, totaling another car. The thieves fled to Washington with the trailer, cops in hot pursuit. The two were packing their bags in their hotel room at the Oxford Suites on Hayden Island when they saw their truck, gun-filled trailer in tow, drive away from the hotel parking lot, the son told The Oregonian at the time. It acts as a middleman at its gun shows, holding weapons until buyers pass background checks, a process that can take months, Zielke says.) (Heller Enterprises is a federally licensed arms dealer.

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Last May, Zielke and her son drove his F-250 pickup truck from the Portland Expo Center with a trailer full of semi-automatic rifles and other guns that had been for sale at that weekend’s show.

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Vandals have smashed truck windows in the parking lot and slashed tires, and vendors were complaining.

In 2020, she said, Heller took over the shows run by another promoter, Wes Knodel, who was ill and wanted out.Ĭonditions at the venue were deteriorating, Zielke said. A flyer taped to the front door advertised a dozen gun shows, including two upcoming events at the Expo Center. He hired a woman named Julie Zielke to run his new gun show business. But he did not lose his business.Īt some point, Heller graduated from vendor to promoter. He owed $287,500 by the time the Internal Revenue Service caught on in 2014.Īfter federal agents raided his warehouse, Heller pleaded guilty to tax evasion in 2016 and spent six months under house arrest. The shop had a computer numerical control machine, and Heller discovered he could use it to make extremely accurate semi-automatic rifle barrels.įor years, Heller made a lot of money selling ammunition for cash at gun shows.

The business specialized in bearings, but eventually expanded into ammunition and firearms. Heller had been in the business since he was 21 years old, working with his dad, the paper said. In 2018, Heller celebrated his 30th year in business by hosting a cookout featured in the St. Overlooking the highway is a large sign advertising his ball-bearing business: “Service is our specialty,” it reads. Helens warehouse across the railroad tracks from Highway 30. Heller runs his businesses, Heller Enterprises, out of a beige St. And it was under Peterson that Metro went into business with Rob Heller. “They’ll probably move to the Clark County Fairgrounds or other places where the facility is not equipped adequately to deal with the kind of technology we can provide at our facility.” “I don’t know that you’re going to stop gun shows,” Hughes said. He has rented the Portland Expo Center from Metro to host the “Shooting Sports & Blade Expo” four times in the past eight months, records obtained by WW show. The first two events, scheduled for March and May 2020, were canceled due to COVID. Helens-based weapons dealer convicted of federal tax evasion whose company manufactures ammunition and customized semi-automatic rifles. Instead, the agency signed a new contract with Rob Heller, a St. It was an opportunity for Metro, the regional government that owns the Oregon Zoo and two convention centers, to abandon a long-criticized revenue stream that was already drying up. One promoter had health issues, the other blamed poor attendance. Two event promotion companies hosted nine gun shows at the Portland Expo Center in 2019.

(Chris Nesseth) By Lucas Manfield Jat 5:44 am PDT The Portland Expo Center hosted the Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show earlier this year.