CLARKSTON – According to court documents, employees at the Clarkston Best Western Plus Hotel on Bridge Street reported shortly before 10 a.m. Tuesday that a man who had entered the property earlier that morning had returned to the hotel and got into an altercation with staff and guests.
Hotel staff told police that Holmes was near a coffee serving area when a staff member approached him and asked what room he was in. Holmes reportedly presented a room key that did not belong to him and told the staff member it was “none of her business.”
The employee allegedly tried to take the key, but the man “ripped her hands away,” documents state. The employee told police she planned to press assault charges.
Upon arrival, Clarkston Police made contact with the man, identified as 30-year-old Mason E. Holmes, the same man they had been called about earlier in the day. He was alleged to have been trespassing and taking items from the hotel, but was not a guest.
Police arrived and, according to court documents, Holmes confirmed that he had knowingly returned to the hotel after trespassing just hours earlier. He was subsequently arrested.
Holmes was found in possession of items normally given free to hotel guests, as well as two hypodermic needles, small amounts of burnt aluminum foil and four hollowed-out pens – all items police say are commonly used to ingest narcotics. Holmes reportedly told police that he found the drug paraphernalia on hotel grounds and put it away so it wouldn’t be found by a child.
Holmes was taken to the Asotin County Jail. He is charged with first-degree burglary, a Class A felony in Washington, because he had previously entered the property without permission. He appeared in court Wednesday. Bail was set at $15,000. An arraignment in the case is scheduled for August 19.
