this link has the people's name's and age's that were arrested -
http://www.nola.com/crime/index.ssf/2015/03/french_quarter_transients_targ.html
By
Jonathan Bullington, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
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on March 30, 2015 at 6:45 PM, updated March 31, 2015 at 2:41 PM
In New Orleans'
French Quarter, they are called many names: "Gutter punks," "dirty kids," "freight hoppers." To some, they're a frightful and aggressive nuisance - one targeted by a
recent police sweep fueled by businessman Sidney Torres' pocket book and his task force.
To others, these men and women are just harmless travelers, fixtures of city living.
Sitting outside Walgreens on Decatur Street Monday afternoon (March 30), they were David Anthony Marsh, "Michael Moore" and Frederick Dehn -- and they were thirsty.
"Why didn't you get whiskey?" Marsh asked the other two, reaching out his hand to pass back a tall can of malt liquor.
"Whiskey was too expensive," Dehn responded. "We didn't have enough."
New Orleans police say the seasonal migration of "travelers" like Marsh and company poses problems for residents, businesses and visitors of the French Quarter -- the city's premier tourist destination. During a raid Friday, police arrested 22 people on 28 misdemeanor charges, most targeting loitering behavior and illegal vending that some neighborhood residents have complained about.
"They're not necessarily the biggest issue on the plate," NOPD Commander Jeffrey Walls, whose 8th District includes the Quarter, said of transient visitors. But dealing with the problems they pose, Walls said, is "like the broken window syndrome. If you address minor issues, you'll take care of the bigger ones as well."
Complaints of aggressive panhandling or clogging sidewalks have been a near constant in the area. But Walls said arresting someone accused of aggressive solicitation, for example, would typically take most of the arresting officer's day -- often requiring waiting for the accused to be checked out for an exaggerated medical condition.
Police are also ill-equipped to house the pets of transients who get arrested. The 8th District headquarters has only one dog kennel. Dealing with a second dog requires waiting for Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to come to the scene, or bringing the dog to the SPCA in after-hours cases.
So officers typically issued summons to appear in court. Those court appearances, Walls said, were often missed.
"We were beating our heads against the wall," he said.
Friday's raid a sign of new regime
Enter Torres, the former trash collection mogul who recently began personally paying for a
crime-reporting app and off-duty NOPD officers to
patrol the Quarter on all-terrain vehicles. Torres said he spoke with police about the challenges of addressing complaints related to transients, and agreed to donate $4,000 to have LASPCA officers join NOPD officers and off-duty task force officers in targeted enforcement efforts.
"It's a big problem," Torres said, relaying his own experience of an aggressive encounter with a transient outside his own home last week. "They make people feel unsafe."
Friday night's sweep of Decatur, Royal, St. Louis and Frenchmen streets netted 22 people arrested on 28 misdemeanor charges, NOPD said. Most charges, 15, were for obstruction of public passage, said NOPD spokesman Tyler Gamble. Six were on municipal warrants, three each for illegal vending or carrying open glass containers, and one for public intoxication.
Gamble released the following names and ages of those arrested in the sweep:
- Anthony Duncan, 33
- Trevis Fisher, 37
- Jeff Starks, 35
- Brian Philower, 23
- Stephen Sprul, 29
- Kasem Hebert, 28
- Patrick Thompson, 25
- Selene Hart, 20
- Jeffrey Edgerton, 24
- Charles Bragg, 26
- Lynda Madison, 44
- Joseph Williams, 36
- Michael Judge, 32
- Joseph Vinyard, 24
- Jeremy Groce, 26
- Daniel Sullivan, 28
- Scott Gioseffi, 35
- Mohammad Karaji, 24
- Jon Meredith, 49
- Joshua Ryan, 25
- Ronald Gilmore, 26
- Nicholas Matthews, 26
No animals were taken into custody, police said. Alicia Haefele, spokeswoman for the LASPCA, said the agency often works with NOPD on daytime enforcement sweeps. With Torres' donation, she said the agency is available for additional patrol efforts.
Animals taken into LASPCA custody are spayed or neutered and given any necessary vaccinations, Haefele said. They are returned to their owners in all but a few cases, she said, such as when the animal is deemed too aggressive or is intentionally mistreated by its owner.
"We really want to do everything we can to reunite pets with their owners, and help give them the resources to care for their dogs," she said.
"A lot of these kids get kicked out of their home"
Outside Walgreens on Monday afternoon, a dog -- adopted by Marsh two months ago -- slept soundly while a cardboard sign reading "my dad needs beer" rested on its side.
The "elder statesman" of the group at 44, Marsh's pulled back hair showed shocks of the gray hair dominating his goatee. He's considered a freight hopper, he said, and the black bandana hanging around his neck, acting as sort of a frequent flier card, signifies he's logged more than 10,000 miles on the rails.
French Quarter transients In New Orleans' French Quarter, they are called many names: "Gutter punks," "dirty kids," "freight hoppers." To some, they're a frightful and aggressive nuisance - one targeted by a recent police sweep fueled by businessman Sidney Torres' pocket book and his task force.
"Cops don't like the way we look, or the way we dress," he said, stopping periodically to show off the two cardboard signs he was "flying" that day: "Vision of a Steak & Beer" and "Mama said wait here 40 years ago."
"A lot of these kids get kicked out of their home," he said. "They don't know where to go. A lot are good kids who want to see the world."
Marsh's own journey started in Minnesota, he said, and included time in Chicago before taking to the rails. He's working on a book, he said, and has collected thousands of photographs of the "dirty kids" he's met during his travels.
There have been arrests, he said, more than 30 in 26 cumulative years spent on New Orleans' streets. There have been fights and brushes with death. Dehn, sitting to Marsh's right, had a heroin overdose scare the night before, Marsh said, the medical bracelet still visible on Dehn's arm.
Few Quarter residents or visitors who passed by Marsh and his friends Monday afternoon gave them any money. Some showed slight amusement at the group's cleverly worded signs, with one man managing to snap what he likely considered to be a covert picture. One woman stopped to drop off leftover fries ("still warm," she touted) for the group, followed in short order by two older men who walked by shaking their heads and muttering something about heroin.
But most appeared to carry out their brief encounter with the group by making as little eye contact as possible, veering to the opposite side of the sidewalk as if an imaginary force had propelled them there.
"It's sad," said Patronia Phelps, 64, in town from Houston for a birthday party. "Very heartbreaking."
Perhaps the biggest score from the group -- now six members strong -- came from Chicago natives Matt Deponte and Lisa Schreck.
"I don't have any cash," Deponte, 36, told the group, holding up an unopened pack of cigarettes that drew rousing applause before it was shared among the group.
"I've been there. It's tough," Deponte said later. "I understand cops perspective, but I don't think you can generalize. I've seen some aggressive locals."
Edited to include the article text.
