Fugitive Democrat Official Flees to Mexico After Elderly Fraud Charges [WATCH]

A former Clackamas County commissioner is the subject of an international manhunt after allegedly fleeing Oregon with her 9-year-old son while facing felony theft charges.

Authorities believe 44-year-old Melissa Fireside crossed into Mexico last week and may be attempting to reach Europe, where she holds an Austrian passport valid through 2032.

File this under shit you can’t make up: Former Clackamas County commissioner, Melissa Fireside, has fled the country with her school-aged son, apparently using a falsified passport to do so. Fireside, who faced fraud charges shortly after being elected to the commission, was out… pic.twitter.com/UBF9wTLFXS

— PDX Real (@PDXReal1) November 1, 2025

Fireside, a Democrat who was elected to the Clackamas County Board of Commissioners in November 2023, resigned her position earlier this year after being charged with multiple counts of first-degree theft and forgery.

According to investigators, she is accused of orchestrating a financial scheme that defrauded an elderly man of tens of thousands of dollars.

Court documents show Fireside allegedly impersonated her mother’s 83-year-old boyfriend, Arthur W. Petrone, to obtain a $21,000 bank loan and a $9,000 credit card advance.

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Investigators say she forged Petrone’s signature to access the funds. Petrone, a retired supermarket employee who lived in an assisted living facility, died in August.

His daughter became suspicious after discovering unexplained withdrawals from his accounts and alerted authorities.

The Oregon Department of Justice launched an investigation that uncovered additional evidence suggesting Fireside attempted to secure a $35,000 loan in Petrone’s name but only succeeded in obtaining $21,000 due to insufficient funds in his accounts.

Fireside had been scheduled to stand trial in December.

According to The Oregonian, she failed to appear for a scheduled hearing last week and is believed to have taken her son out of school without notifying authorities.

Investigators discovered that she had left her listed bail address, and travel records indicate she had a flight booked from Mexico to Amsterdam the following day.

Oregon DOJ spokesman Jerry Gorman confirmed to The Oregonian that Fireside possesses a valid Austrian passport but said it remains unclear how she acquired dual citizenship.

Her current whereabouts are unknown.

Prosecutors allege that $29,000 from the fraudulent loans was used to repay a personal debt to Oregon State Representative April Dobson, also a Democrat.

Dobson told The Oregonian she believed she was helping a struggling single mother when she lent Fireside money for “temporary relief for her personal business.”

There is no indication Dobson was involved in or aware of any criminal activity.

At the time of her disappearance, Fireside owned a $900,000 home in Lake Oswego, an affluent suburb outside Portland.

She had also established a limited liability company tied to luxury real estate ventures, according to business registration records.

Investigators suspect that Fireside crossed the southern border by car and continued on to Europe, where her Austrian citizenship would allow unrestricted travel across the European Union.

When she was first charged earlier this year, her attorneys maintained that Fireside was “entitled to the presumption of innocence.”

Federal and state authorities are now coordinating with international law enforcement agencies to locate Fireside and her son.

The Oregon Department of Justice has not yet confirmed whether an international arrest warrant or Interpol Red Notice has been issued.