Rescued couple face drug charges

ASHLAND, Ore. – Arizona authorities have filed felony drug charges against two members of a family rescued from a snowbound motor home in Oregon this week. But as of Friday there were no signs that authorities in either state were actively seeking them.

Arizona had not decided whether to seek extradition, and police in Oregon said they could not pursue them unless that happened.

Ashland police Sgt. Jim Alderman said Friday, “We have no interest in Higginbotham at this time.”

Warrants were issued in Snowflake, Ariz., for Elbert and Becky Higginbotham on Wednesday, a day after they and four relatives were rescued in a mountainous region of southern Oregon.

Authorities weighed whether it was worth the expense of extraditing the couple and relatives said they had not seen the couple since Thursday.

Both are charged with possession of dangerous drugs for sale and possession of drug paraphernalia, court records show. The records show Elbert Higginbotham is also wanted on a weapons charge.

In an interview with the Ashland Daily Tidings published Friday, Elbert Higginbotham acknowledged he had been arrested on drug charges in Arizona, where the couple live, but he said the drugs were not his.

“I was in the wrong place at the wrong time,” he said.

The newspaper said the warrants were issued after Arizona authorities saw TV coverage of the rescue.

The family – the two Higginbothams, Becky Higginbotham’s son, his wife and their two children – left Ashland in Elbert Higginbotham’s 35-foot motor home on March 4. Two members were found as they hiked out for help, and other four were found safe in the motor home.

The Higginbothams left Arizona for Ashland, where the other four live, about a month ago, a family member said. The drive to Gold Beach on the south Oregon coast was to be an overnight trip.

Arizona authorities and Elbert Higginbotham said he was house-sitting for a friend in Heber, Ariz., when police raided the home. Higginbotham said he knew the drug was there but called the arrest entrapment.

“We weren’t dealing in any way shape or form,” he said.

Deputy Cmdr. Kelly Clark of the Navajo County Sheriff’s Department told the newspaper that the Higginbothams were arrested last year but weren’t charged then because they agreed to cooperate.

Higginbotham has said he planned to contact Arizona authorities.