{"id":58642,"date":"2025-01-30T22:24:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T22:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/this-man-says-hes-the-mysterious-googly-eye-bandit-in-bend-oregon\/"},"modified":"2025-01-30T22:24:21","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T22:24:21","slug":"this-man-says-hes-the-mysterious-googly-eye-bandit-in-bend-oregon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=58642","title":{"rendered":"This Man Says He’s the Mysterious ‘Googly-Eye Bandit’ in Bend, Oregon"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Big Ears <\/em>by artist Joe Halko
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Late last month, the city of Bend, Oregon, went viral after someone began\u00a0sticking googly eyes<\/a> onto public sculptures around town. Many residents saw the googly eyes as a funny diversion, but city officials were less amused. Writing on social media<\/a>, they reminded residents that removing the googly eyes costs money and that the adhesives could damage the city\u2019s public art.<\/p>\n

Differing opinions aside, the identity of the so-called \u201cgoogly eye bandit\u201d was always a mystery\u2014until now.<\/p>\n

A man named Jeff Keith has come forward to take responsibility for some of the unofficial adornments. Keith is the founder of a nonprofit that fights against human trafficking, and the googly-eye gag provided some much-needed levity amid all the \u201cheavy stuff\u201d he sees at work, as he tells the\u00a0Associated Press<\/a>\u2019 Claire Rush.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Keith, a nonprofit founder, says he’s behind some of the googly-eye pranks in Bend.<\/p>\n

Guardian Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keith launched the Bend-based organization, called Guardian Group, in 2010 and currently serves as its CEO. The 53-year-old has lived in Bend, a city with around 100,000 residents, for nearly 20 years.<\/p>\n

Keith says he used duct tape to affix googly eyes to two art installations in Bend in early December: one depicting a family of deer called Big Ears<\/em> by Joe Halko, and a sculpture of a man sitting on a bench called\u00a0The Traveler<\/em><\/a> by Richard Beyer.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s not taking credit for all of the googly eyes\u2014just some of them\u2014and says that he doesn\u2019t know who else was inspired by his initial prank. After he learned that the googly eyes had potentially caused damage, he went to the city\u2019s offices to come clean.<\/p>\n

He says he offered to cover the costs of removing the googly eyes, but he tells the\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Simon J. Levien he never heard back.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, city officials sent a statement to the\u00a0Oregonian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Carlos Fuentes.<\/p>\n

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Keith says he affixed googly eyes to two sculptures in Bend, including\u00a0The Traveler<\/em> by Richard Beyer.<\/p>\n

Guardian Group<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe city staff is focused on city operations, wildfire preparedness, council goals and budget development,\u201d wrote Jacob Larsen, a spokesperson for the city. \u201cOur understanding is that a community member may be interested in recognizing the impact of the googly eyes, but we are not pursuing anything at this time nor are city staff in direct conversations with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t Keith\u2019s first attention-grabbing prank. Every three or four months, when he\u2019s finished with his work for the day, he dons an \u201cold-man mask\u201d and heads out on the town, reports the\u00a0Washington Post<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Jonathan Edwards. While moonlighting as the \u201cBanksy<\/a> of Bend,\u201d he tries to do things he thinks will make people smile.<\/p>\n

In the past, he\u2019s also attached leis and hula skirts to some of the city\u2019s public sculptures. He also dressed up some figures in wigs and bell bottoms, then added a \u201cdisco ball\u201d\u2014fashioned out of a Mylar balloon\u2014to the scene, per the Washington Post<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Keith also hung up a fake sign announcing that the fast food restaurant In-N-Out Burger was coming to Bend. That 2019 prank\u00a0also made headlines<\/a>, with the company denouncing the sign as a hoax.<\/p>\n

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He pulled a similar fake sign prank announcing the opening of a Voodoo Doughnut, a popular Portland-based donut chain, according to the Oregonian<\/em>. He says he also attached a cardboard cutout of the late actor Chris Farley to a pole in a roundabout.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spend 50 bucks a month on my pranks,\u201d Keith tells the Times<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s about 10 cents a smile because I know how many people hit our roundabout. It\u2019s worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the googly eyes appeared on eight sculptures in Bend\u2019s Roundabout Art Route, a path linking 27 art installations in the middle of traffic circles. At the time, city authorities told the\u00a0Times<\/em><\/a>\u2019 Emmett Lindner that they\u2019d spent $1,500 removing the googly eyes. However, they said they were not conducting an investigation or looking for the people responsible.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile… Oregon’s Controversial Googly Eyes | Drain Pipe Cat | Krispy Kreme Hacked<\/p>\n

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