Gainesville woman arrested for trying to break into motel room

Staff report

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Tiffany Renae Whetstone, 31, was arrested yesterday and charged with attempted burglary of an occupied dwelling, property damage, and resisting an officer without violence after allegedly trying to kick in the door of a motel room.

At about 7:50 p.m. yesterday, a Gainesville Police Department officer responded to the Value Lodge at 2000 SW 13th Street and reportedly saw Whetstone walking away, then turning a corner and running. The officer ordered her to stop, but she allegedly continued to run and hopped down into a drainage canal. She was taken into custody after more officers arrived.

One of the people in the motel room reportedly showed the officer a video that showed Whetstone kicking the doors and windows of the room. The victims said Whetstone’s actions caused a curtain rod to fall to the ground, about $30 in damages.

Whetstone has two misdemeanor convictions (one violent) from about ten years ago and a string of incidents that began in 2020. A sworn complaint was filed against her in December 2020, alleging that she had broken into her mother’s boyfriend’s residence with her siblings and that they had kicked and punched the boyfriend, but the charges were later dropped. Another sworn complaint was filed in June 2022, alleging that she had borrowed a car and refused to return it; those charges were also dropped. In September 2022, a sworn complaint was filed that alleged she had intentionally broken the windshield of a friend’s car; that charge was also dropped.

Whetstone was arrested in January 2023 after her aunt called the police and reported that Whetstone had taken her car. After Whetstone was detained for grand theft of a vehicle and the car was searched, she was also charged with possession of “molly.” Judge Susan Miller-Jones released her on her own recognizance, and the charges were later dropped.

On May 5, a sworn complaint was filed for trespass after warning after a 911 caller said Whetstone, who had previously been trespassed from the location, had entered his unlocked apartment with another person and that when he told them to get out, someone had broken one of his windows from the outside.

Bail information is unavailable on weekends.

Articles about arrests are based on reports from law enforcement agencies. The charges listed are taken from the arrest report and/or court records and are only accusations. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.