Police May Add Bias Crime Charges Against Truck Driver Who Crashed Into Salem Convenience Store

Dallas, Oregon, police are considering additional charges against a man who drove his pickup truck through the front doors of the Salem-area Center Market convenience store on Saturday night before driving around inside, smashing through shelves, and destroying merchandise in the shop owned by the Singh family.

The suspect was later identified as John Louis Marlas, 34, of Monmouth.

Additional Charges Against Man Who Crashed Into Dallas, Oregon Center Market Convenience Store

On the Center Market surveillance footage, a black pickup truck is seen plowing through the store’s doors on Fairview Avenue before crashing into the back wall.

Wearing only shorts, the man gets out of the truck and walks through the store before getting back in the driver’s seat. He then drives the truck into rows of shelves and other parts of the store repeatedly until the video is blurred by a haze of dust and debris.

A police officer used his patrol car to block the truck’s exit. Officials indicated that the suspect drove his pickup truck into the patrol car multiple times.

The police eventually took the man into custody, and he now faces charges of reckless endangering and reckless driving, robbery in the first degree, theft in the first degree, first-degree criminal mischief, and driving under the influence of intoxicants.

Dallas city officials reported that no one was injured and indicated that merchandise was stolen from the store during the incident, which police are investigating as a possible bias crime.

Marlas has a criminal history, having been convicted of second-degree criminal mischief in 2021.

He was ordered to go to the Oregon State Hospital for treatment, and in December 2024, he was arrested and charged with menacing and disorderly conduct in the second degree, but he has pleaded not guilty to the charges.