Police believe 50-year-old Mark Fain (right) is the leader of a cadre of meth dealers operating in Lane County. Officers recovered a 2008 Holiday Bowl ring from Fain's home. The ring is believed to be one recently reported stolen by a Duck football player (Photo illustration/Ring image courtesy Oregon Media Services)

EUGENE, Ore. -- Police arrested a suspected meth kingpin and his bodyguard while disrupting a meth deal in a shopping center parking lot on Tuesday, later discovering a stolen 2008 Holidy Bowl Championship ring recently stolen from a University of Oregon Duck football player, police announced Thursday.

"A joint investigation by Springfield and Eugene Narcotics detectives revealed that Mark Fain is the leader of a cadre of meth dealers in the Lane County area," Eugene police said in a statement.

Vice narcotics disrupted what they described as a "suspicious transaction" between Fain, 50, and Erwin Guthrie in the parking lot at 4740 Royal Avenue. Detectives seized an ounce of methamphetamine and more than $3,200 in cash along with smaller amounts of marijuana and ecstasy.

Photo courtesy Oregon Media Services

Officers later found the Holiday Bowl ring during a search of Fain's home, where officers said they also found drug packaging materials and two handguns. Duck running back LaMichael James reported the ring stolen from his car parked on Patterson Street on Aug. 13.

Police believe Fain, accompanied by Mark Villanueva, who was acting as Fain's bodyguard, was meeting with Erwin Guthrie.

Police said they seized a quarter ounce of meth from Guthrie.

Police arrested all three men and lodged them on the Lane County Jail on on suspicion of the following charges:

Mark Lee Fain - Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine and Unlawful Delivery of Methamphetamine.

Mark Villanueva - Outstanding unrelated warrant

Erwin Guthrie - Possession and Delivery of Methamphetamine

Police said Fain was arrested by Springfield narcotics detectives on Sept. 30, 2009, and that officers seized an ounce and a half of methamphetamine and more than $7000 from him at that time.

Police said a joint investigation by Springfield and Eugene narcotics detectives led them to believe Fain is the leader of a cadre of meth dealers in the Lane County area. 

In the Santa Clara area, two people police said are methamphetamine dealers associated with Fain were arrested by Eugene and Springfield detectives in early September. | STORY

At that time, detectives learned that a group of methamphetamine dealers had been exploiting a computer glitch to make thousands of dollars from defective lottery machines.