The Portland man accused of stealing a federal agent’s car Wednesday and leading police on a high-speed chase to Washington did so after learning officers had found a cellphone during a raid of his home — an alleged violation of his probation for prior sex crimes.
Travis Jay Grygla, 43, a registered sex offender, was on federal probation for sexually abusing children and distributing child pornography.
Agents with federal Homeland Security Investigations had obtained a warrant to search Grygla’s home in the 2900 block of Southeast 119th Avenue on Wednesday after receiving a tip that he was storing and sharing images of child pornography in his home, according to an affidavit filed in federal court Thursday.
They found hidden memory cards in a bedroom he shared with a roommate, as well as a black Samsung phone, the affidavit said.
About an hour into the raid, Grygla, who was left in the front passenger seat of an agent’s car with no handcuffs, told an officer standing nearby, “This is not going to go good for me,” according to the affidavit.
He then closed the car door, locked all the doors, raised an open window, slipped into the driver’s seat and took off.
Another federal agent attempted to block him as he merged from Portland’s Southeast Division Street onto Interstate 205 northbound, but Grygla rammed the side of the agent’s car and kept going, the affidavit said.
He reached speeds of 115 to 120 mph as he headed north on I-205 to northbound Interstate 5 and into Washington state, according to the affidavit.
Two guns and other police gear were locked in a vault in the back of the car that Grygla stole, according to court records. Evidence seized from Grygla’s home also was inside the car, according to a Homeland Security Investigations agent.
Multiple agencies got involved in the chase, including Portland police, Vancouver police, Washington State Patrol and Cowlitz County deputy sheriffs.
Grygla avoided multiple spike strips set on the freeway before one deflated the front driver’s tire of the stolen car. Grygla continued to ride on the exposed metal rim of the front tire, exiting the freeway in Castle Rock, Washington.
There, an officer tried to stop the stolen car by ramming into the side of his back bumper, and the stolen car flipped upside down and came to a halt, according to the affidavit.
Grygla was arrested, taken to a hospital for medical evaluation and then driven back to Portland by a Homeland Security Investigations agent.
Grygla appeared Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Portland on an alleged probation violation and new charges of possessing or accessing with intent to view child pornography.
Agents found an memory card containing numerous images of child pornography hidden in a shoe left in the agent’s wrecked car, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mira Chirnick said in court.
Peyton Lee, an assistant federal public defender, entered not guilty pleas on Grygla’s behalf to the new charges and said Grygla denies the alleged probation violation. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jolie A. Russo ordered Grygla to remain in custody pending trial.
Grygla has prior federal convictions in 2003 for possessing child pornography and in 2008 for distributing child pornography.
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