From international headlines to making on custom-made merchandise, the Googly-Eye Bandit(s) have definitely made their mark on Bend history.
“I have a bunch of friends online, international friends out of the states that have heard about it which is crazy,” local Connor Moore said. “The only international Bend thing I’ve ever heard about is always Blockbuster, so hearing about something else is always cool.”
Jeff Keith, the founder of non-profit organization Guardian Group, has come forward claiming he is the original Googly-Eye Bandit.
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“The good things is, there have been a lot of people who have followed up on the googly eyes that have made for my initial two applications of the eyes,” Keith said.
Keith said his non-profit aims to combat human trafficking. He said the googly eyes started as a from of self-care, saying he only did it to a couple pieces of art as a way to balance out the emotional toll of the intense work is organization does.
Now, he’s using the viral opportunity to highlight his organization’s work.
“Honestly, to have it raise awareness for the work that we’re doing. So yes, it’s fun. There’s a lot of humor behind it. But also opening our eyes to seeing things that are really tough in this world. And for us, the work that we’re doing, is helping girls get out of trafficking,” Keith said.
The stunt prompted the city to ask whoever was googling some of Bend’s most iconic sculptures to stop, claiming it had caused $1,500 in damages.
Keith said he went to Bend City Hall offering to pay for those damages completely, whether he had caused them or not.
“I went into the city to ask to help pay for that, because even though my applications were with duct tape, some of the others were with glue. So I wanted to help take care of that, but I didn’t get a response back from them”
However, in an email sent to Central Oregon Daily, the city said, “To our knowledge, this individual has not reached out to discuss this with City staff. We have no investigation into this, and we are pursuing it. The individual is welcome to make a donation to a non-profit organization that supports public art.”Â
As for some Bendites, they’re still skeptical and wondering if Keith really was the original googly-eye mastermind.
“It’s hard to say if he really did do it because I saw a lot of other people online talking about how they were going to do it as well. I don’t think there definitive proof that he’s really the one that did it,” Moore said.
The City said it is focused on city operations, wildfire preparedness, council goals and budget development.
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