PORTLAND — A 27-year-old man was arrested earlier this month after being found with a pipe bomb in the bathroom of a Jantzen Beach hotel, records show.
Tyler Scott Whitney is accused of unlawful possession of a destructive device. Court records don’t say why he had the bomb or reference whether he had any plans to use it.
An officer initially contacted Whitney on April 5, when he was called to the Red Lion Hotel on the River on a report of someone who refused to leave a hotel bathroom, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The officer found a man, since identified as Whitney, locked in a women’s bathroom stall, the records say. Whitney allegedly provided an Alaska identification card, and the officer eventually told him to leave.
But the officer reviewed the ID and found it didn’t match Whitney’s description, so he tracked him down — this time finding him in a bathroom at a nearby Oxford Suites.
The officer confronted Whitney about the identification, and Whitney said he provided it in order to avoid detection of a warrant, according to the affidavit.
The officer arrested Whitney and found needles in his backpack, the records show. And in an effort to avoid being hurt by any uncapped needles, the officer dumped the backpack’s contents onto the floor.
A heavy item, which appeared to be a pipe bomb, fell to the ground.
The officer put caution tape around the bomb to keep anyone from going close, and a bomb squad eventually seized it.
Whitney, who’s being held in the Multnomah County Detention Center, is also accused of giving false information to a peace officer in connection with a citation or warrant.
The warrant appears to be connected to a 2019 heroin possession and felon in possession of a firearm conviction.
