A Umatilla tent dweller was arrested Tuesday night after a being accused of battering a woman and taking her phone while she was speaking to a 911 operator.
Marion County sheriff’s deputies responded to Nelson’s Fish Camp at 19400 SE Hwy. 42 and when they arrived, the woman said she and 33-year-old Jonathan Lance Tenbroeck had gotten into an altercation inside their tent. The woman claimed Tenbroeck had shoved her onto a bed and then gotten on top of her and “pinned” her down, a sheriff’s office report states.
The woman said she was secretly able to dial 911 for help and while she was on the line, Tenbroeck confronted her for calling law enforcement. She said Tenbroeck then took her phone away while she was speaking to the 911 operator, the report says.
The woman said she eventually was able to get her phone back and she called for help a second time. A 911 operator confirmed both calls and said the woman wouldn’t answer questions during the first call but was able to provide her location the second time. The operator said Tenbroeck could be heard saying, “Why you calling the cops” twice, with the second time being louder than the first one, the report says, adding that the call disconnected a short time later.
Tenbroeck originally denied any type of physical altercation but then changed his story and said his knee may have accidentally touched the woman when he tried to crawl over her on the bed. He admitted to taking the woman’s cell phone from her while she was speaking with the 911 operator and said he did so because he didn’t want law enforcement to respond. But he denied hanging up the phone while it was connected to 911, the report says.
Tenbroeck was taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where he was charged with domestic battery and obstructing justice. He was released early Wednesday morning on $1,000 bond and is due in court Nov. 19 at 9 a.m. to answer to the charges.