Elisha Jo Young, 38, has been arrested for the second time on five felony charges of embezzling tens of thousands of dollars from Eugene Weekly between 2021 to 2023. This time, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek’s office approved her extradition.
This is the latest in a surprising series of twists and turns since the alleged embezzlement against EW came to light in late 2023.
Young was originally arrested May 6 in Whitehall, Ohio, where she had been living since leaving Oregon after the paper announced it had been embezzled and laid off its entire staff shortly before Christmas 2023.
Dan Buckwalter, EW’s copy editor and arts writer who was one of the staff laid off in 2023 says of the embezzlement, “I’ve been in journalism in one capacity or another for close to 40 years, and while I have seen some oddities, what Eugene Weekly has gone through the past 17 months has been truly bizarre.”
Although the paper’s former staff and interns continued to publish online, the paper was only able to return to print after the community fundraised more than $200,000.
Young was released three days after her arrest in May, after Kotek’s office declined to extradite her — the denial coming less than an hour after the Lane County district attorney made the request. The DA quickly appealed but this was also turned down. This announcement was greeted with anger, dismay and even offers to crowdfund the extradition.
The state spends an average of $24.37 to return a fugitive via a shuttle service and $1,757.95 for transportation and lodging for non-shuttle extraditions from 2023 to 2025, according to records provided to EW in response to a public records request. That number does not include the cost for law enforcement to execute the extradition.
Oregon is part of an extradition shuttle service with Washington, Montana, Idaho and Northern California. Prior to 2020, 22 states participated in the service. But Ohio is not a participating state. Regardless, Kotek’s staff had suggested the DA revise the extradition request to apply only in a shuttle state.
News coverage of the case by The Oregonian led to the discovery that Kotek’s office had also denied the extradition of a suspect in a string of burglaries in Oregon and Washington — at least 17 in Eugene/Springfield — targeting Asian American families.
After public outcry in both extradition cases, the Governor’s Office did an about-face. In Young’s case, this meant she needed to be re-arrested. Young claimed in text messages and social media posts that she intended to turn herself in.
The Eugene Police Department said that Young surrendered to police in Ohio. “This surrender occurred as a result of investigative efforts and was not initiated voluntarily by the individual,” an EPD statement says.
The statement continues, “On June 10, deputies with the U.S. Marshals Service made contact at a residence in Piqua, Ohio, as part of an ongoing fugitive investigation.” EPD says that deputies were “able to establish communication with the individual in question via phone.”
Lane County DA Chris Parosa says, “I want to thank the Eugene Police Department for working with the U.S.Marshals Office and local law enforcement in Ohio to get Ms. Young back in custody.”
Eugene Weekly also did a public records request for the objective criteria used to determine what cases the Governor’s Office will pay to extradite as well as what cases have been approved or denied since 2023. Kotek’s office denied that request, citing exemptions for investigatory information compiled for criminal law purposes, internal advisory communications, and other reasons.
Eugene Weekly plans to appeal the denial.