Two People Arrested After Allegedly Vandalizing and Trying to Break In to The Society Hotel in Old Town

Portland police arrested two people Thursday evening who allegedly vandalized and attempted to break in to The Society Hotel, a boutique hotel in Old Town whose owner has feuded with a food and supplies giveaway in the neighborhood.

The Portland Police Bureau wrote in a Friday press release that officers had arrested Nicole Middleton, 42, and Rhythm Kenaley, 30, outside of the hotel. Middleton was arrested on charges of assault, attempted assault, coercion, criminal trespass, harassment and disorderly conduct. Kenaley was arrested on charges of criminal mischief.

The Police Bureau wrote that demonstrators attempted to break in to the building, defaced the front window with a marker, and assaulted a private security officer who’d tried to keep them from breaking in.

In a probable cause affidavit filed against Middleton today, Multnomah County deputy district attorney Kevin Demer described a group of protesters playing loud music, taking over Northwest 3rd Avenue, and crowding against The Society Hotel entrance. “When they forced the door open,” he wrote, “the woman working at the front desk, who was pregnant, attempted to close it and the group pushed it back open, striking her with the door.”

When security guards arrived to help the desk clerk and secure the doors, Demer wrote, a group of demonstrators formed a circle around one of the guards, punching and kicking him. He dispersed the assailants with pepper spray. Middleton was among those attacking the security guard, according to the affidavit.

In a statement, police said they were monitoring the demonstration but only intervened when they saw people attacking hotel security and trying to break in to the lobby.

The Police Bureau says it learned of the event through social media posts advertising it. Though police did not provide copies of the flyers, WW obtained copies of a red flyer posted to Instagram that advertised what appears to have been the same event.

The flyer posted on Instagram called the event “Make Some Noise.” The listed location and time: The Society Hotel at 5:30 pm on Thursday, March 27.

The caption of the Instagram post, jointly posted by four accounts, including one called “lettersforpalestinepdx,” read: “Jessie Burke, the owner of the Society Hotel and Chair of the Old Town Community Association, likes calling the police on community members trying to participate in mutual aid and community care. She also served as the campaign manager for Nathan Vasquez, elected as the District Attorney for Multnomah County in May 2024. Nathan Vasquez ran on a tough-on-crime platform.” The flyer also instructed attendees: “don’t talk to pigs, and don’t spread panic.”

The incident Thursday evening followed weeks of repeated confrontations between police officers and people attending a mutual aid group event, hosted by Community Free Store PDX, which regularly sets up folding tables and tents in Old Town to hand out supplies to homeless people. On two different occasions in March, more than 10 officers responded to the mutual aid group’s events.

A spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau told WW of the incident March 6: “Central Precinct officers responded to numerous complaints about a group that was setting up vehicles and tables blocking the street and access to private parking lots.” The bureau wrote that officers warned the mutual aid group multiple times that police might have to take enforcement action, but it did little.

“Finally, the officers had no other options but start writing tickets to people out in the street,” Police Bureau spokesman Sgt. Kevin Allen wrote. “A couple of dozen members of the group began to loudly threaten and encroach upon the officers, preventing the officers from safely doing their work. Due to the potential civil disturbance, the incident commander requested additional resources, which is why many officers responded.”

A similar event hosted by Community Free Store PDX, prompting a similar police response, took place March 13.

According to Allen, officers responded March 13 to “calls from community members who were concerned about the group’s tendency to block public access to thoroughfares.” Allen said the lieutenant who responded brought along sergeants, officers with the Bike Squad, and a few patrol officers. Allen says the group on March 13 didn’t block any streets or sidewalks, so no arrests were made or citations issued.

The March 6 and 13 incidents became a topic of such interest they were discussed at a meeting of the City Council’s Community and Public Safety Committee on March 25, in which one councilor asked why so many officers responded to the events.

Community Free Store PDX, in an Instagram message to WW, said their group is completely unaffiliated with the vandals on Thursday night. “It was obviously planned by other groups entirely...and we were down a couple blocks and around the corner (out of eyesight) of that protest while it was going on,” the group wrote.

Burke, owner of The Society Hotel and board president of the Old Town Community Association, has become a polarizing figure in the neighborhood. She’s been an outspoken critic of Portland’s leadership in recent years, and last year ran for Multnomah County commissioner on a platform of restoring order to the city. (Burke has also received pushback for her role as chair of the Old Town Community Association in recent months, as WW has reported.)

Earlier this week, on March 25, Burke published an opinion piece in the Northwest Examiner about the mutual aid group’s activity, calling it “just shy of domestic terrorism.” She addressed the letter to Mayor Keith Wilson, Police Chief Bob Day, and District 4 city councilors.

“Residents and the cultural institutions continued to complain about this group, and the lawlessness that continued to perpetuate in Old Town, even with organized groups, and so last week law enforcement attempted to address the issue of no permits,” Burke wrote. “At one point, the masked mob latched onto one of the female officers, found her information online and doxxed her, even posting the names of her children and their school, writing ‘I hope they will be safe tomorrow.‘”

Burke wrote in the opinion piece that she and others this week had asked the group to obtain permits for the recurring event.

“We were met with screaming slurs, calling us ‘racists,’ and asking if we had even ‘paid reparations.’ Our message was consistent and clear—we just want the rule of law to be consistently abided by and enforced,” Burke wrote. “I am now dealing with a barrage of 1-star reviews on my business page of people calling me a racist who doesn’t care about our homeless community. The resident community that showed up were elderly, all in their 60s and 70s, several were disabled, and the same vitriol and disrespect was spit in their faces as well.”

Burke added: “And I have to say, as someone that has fought incredibly hard to save this city, I’m about to my breaking point.” She concluded: “For too long we have let childish behavior run the city. It is time for this to stop.”

Prosper Portland, owner of the block in which the mutual aid group has set up in recent weeks, says the group has never obtained a permit.

Burke tells WW that the Thursday incident was the inevitable result of lawless behavior going unchecked. “Everyone has the right to peacefully protest,” she added. “No one has the right to violently protest.”

A message to the Community Free Store PDX Instagram was not immediately returned.

This story has been updated with additional details.