Homeless Tangled in Net of Stolen Property Sting

According to an Austin Police Department press statement released Jan. 20, a four-day sting operation (code-named Operation Out of the Box) downtown and in West Campus netted police more than a dozen suspects charged with "felony arrest by appropriation" and a handful of others who were arrested on drug-related charges. The central Austin areas targeted by police "have been experiencing an increase in burglary of vehicles, businesses and residences," the press release explained, and, "[i]n most circumstances, it appears the stolen items are being traded for narcotics or being pawned to obtain money." All but one of the individuals arrested, APD noted, have prior criminal records for a host of charges, including armed robbery, sexual assault, and injury to a child.

Still, news of the arrests hasn't gone over well with everyone, including Richard Troxell, president of advocacy group House the Homeless. Troxell argues that the sting wasn't about cleaning the streets of criminals, but rather an attempt to rid the streets of the homeless. At least seven of the arrest affidavits filed during the sting note that the operation was conducted downtown in an "area with a significant homeless operation," and that "through past contacts," police know that many of the arrestees "routinely traffic in stolen property." Accordingly, several of the affidavits explain, an undercover officer posed as a "bicycle thief" looking to fence a nearly $1,800 bike for money or drugs. In one case, a man offered a single joint in exchange for the bike; in another, a man offered to trade a day planner, a jacket, and a pair of sunglasses; in two other cases, two different men each allegedly offered the undercover cop $2 for the bike. All four men – three of whom gave the downtown Salvation Army as their home address – were arrested and charged with felony theft, punishable by up to two years in jail.

"Here you have the poorest of the poor being preyed upon by police," Troxell said. "It's beyond pathetic." On top of that, if convicted of the felony charges, the men would face a 10-year ban from eligibility for Austin public housing, he said. "It's unconscionable."

APD spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz denies that the sting was designed to target homeless people. Rather, the officers targeted people "that we know are in the area to do bad things," she said. The officers "looked for people that we know," based on past surveillance, are dealing in drugs and stolen goods in an effort to get them off the street. "There are people that prey on the homeless and there are homeless people that prey on other homeless people – it's a conglomerate of bad news," Chovanetz said. As such, the goal is simply to "move people out of the area that bring illegal activity into the area." Homeless or not, offering to trade or buy stolen property is illegal, she said.

The undercover officers repeatedly told the suspects that the bike was "stolen" property before the suspects offered to trade for or buy the bike, and they agreed to the deal knowing that they were being "offered up something that was ... stolen," Chovanetz said. That doesn't assuage Troxell, however, who equates offering an expensive bike to a person with no resources to someone enticing a hungry person with a juicy steak. "It's absolutely entrapment," he said, "and House the Homeless will continue to pursue this until [this kind of sting] stops."