In 2019, an “anti-camping” homeless harassment ordinance was used to steal $600 from me
Updated by Alexandra Wilson 4/25/2025.
Late in the evening on August 14, 2013, my friend Kevin Byrd and I were traveling through San Rafael, California, en route to Grass Valley, where we were seeking to network with people who may be interested in partnering with Wild Willpower. The Grass Valley area was well known for having “Earthy” people like ourselves, so we were hopeful that others may be interested in helping us on our mission to finish writing More Valuable Than Gold. Because we were in survival mode, late that evening we climbed up a hillside and slept atop a small prairie area.
“Anti-Camping” Ordinances get Deliberately Mis-Applied to Homeless People
Early the next morning, Kevin went for a walk, and on his way back, Officer J. Bean of the San Rafael PD followed him. Upon seeing me laying in my sleeping bag – not bothering anyone – he demanded me to get up, and told me he was going to ticket me for “camping within city limits”.
I informed him that I was not camping, but rather I was homeless and in a survival situation. Regardless, he decided to deliberately misapply “anti camping” ordinance which appears prima facie to be designed to harass and harm homeless persons.
He coerced me to sign a “promise to appear” for a court date, and if I didn’t sign he threatened to arrest me (which would have been a false arrest, because he knew that I was not in fact “camping”). Therefore, I signed the promise to appear, but wrote “under duress”, as shown:
Legal Aid: A Revolving Door of Labor Exploitation
Upon arriving to Grass Valley, I called the City of San Rafael to inform about what happened, and the Secretary told me not to worry about it, “This happens all the time. Just call Legal Aid of Marin and they’ll have you do some community service to have the charges dropped.” I objected and told her, “That is ridiculous. I wasn’t camping.” She insisted I called Legal Aid.
Upon calling Legal Aid, I told the Receptionist that I would like help in filing a class action lawsuit on behalf of homeless people who have been ticketed by homeless harassment laws. She paused, hesitated, and said, “Actually we can’t do that because we’re a 501c3 nonprofit organization, but you can – I can’t tell you any more though, because I’m not allowed to give legal advice on that.” She informed me that all they really do is have homeless people do community service in order to get the anti-camping charge taken off their record, and I told her that this was unfair: homeless people are not camping, and should not be exploited for free labor in order to have to get the criminal charge taken off their record.
A Turning Point for Wild Willpower
Now, up until this point I had been planning to make Wild Willpower into a nonprofit, but upon hearing this my brain began churning. This was a key turning point wherein I started to think that maybe I should not create a nonprofit, but something else (hint: we’re a PAC now, which is short for Political Action Committee).
Misinformed by the City of San Rafael
I called the City of San Rafael again, and told the Secretary to take the anti-camping charge off of my record or I was going to file a class action lawsuit against the city. I was very upset that the city was doing this to people, and slammed the phone down.
One Year Later: Obscene Abuse by San Rafael and co-conspirator Marin County
The following spring Erica Hellmold, acting under the title of “Collections Manager” for Marin County Enhanced Collections, called to inform me that I now owed $548!!!! After explaining the circumstances, I was left under the impression that she was deleting the absurd account. “You won’t hear from us again,” she stated.
2019: U.S. Bank in Urbandale, Iowa, stole $619.99 from my account without Due Process or a Court Order
, however years later in January 2019 $610.99 was extracted from her bank account! Ms. Wilson found out via her bank statement (click to enlarge):
Bank of America told Ms. Wilson to contact California Franchise Tax Board to find out about this “court-ordered debt,” however the bank did not have a copy of the court order on file. California Franchise Tax Board also did not have a copy of the court order, and instead told Ms. Wilson to contact Marin County Enhanced Collections regarding the debt. Again she found herself speaking with Collections Manager Erica Hellmold, who informed her that they, too, did not have a copy of the court order on file, and that she needed to contact Marin County Superior Court to obtain a copy.
The court told Ms. Wilson they have no case number or court order associated with the alleged debt because records for all cases are destroyed after five years.
Ms. Wilson claims because she never received a fair hearing her right to due process was violated. She is seeking to sue the City of San Rafael, County of Marin, California Franchise Tax Board, and Bank of America for extrinsic fraud, but has not yet found legal assistance. Contact [email protected].
Read the unabridged timeline and addendum below to view all the details.
Marin County timeline PDF
Aug. 2013 – Jan. 2019
Addendum:
Sept 24, 2019 – A $125 “legal order fee” was extracted from Ms. Wilson’s account by Bank of America, thereby overdrawing her account -$20.
Sept 30, 2019, 12:53 a.m. – Bank of America employee Emanuel reversed $125, but was unable to reverse the Jan. 11 fee. He transferred Ms. Wilson to Supervisor “Katherine” who informed her that because the full amount of the levy was not able to extracted on Jan. 11, this second fee was attached during the attempt to recover the remaining amount due. She informed MS. Wilson that Bank of America would continue to attempt to recover the remaining balance, and each time will attach a $125 fee each time. Ms. Wilson closed her bank account until this issue is resolved. She is requesting legal assistance and donations from the community at large to hep her recover and to ensure other homeless people aren’t harassed and hurt in this same manner.