A charge of soliciting without a permit in Darien was the least of a 37-year-old Alabama man’s problems after police pulled up arrest warrants for failure to appear in court on 2009 soliciting charges.
Darien police gave this account (accusations not proven in court):
The man, a resident of Opp, Ala. (it’s located near the Gulf coast, just north of Florida) was seen soliciting at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 5, near 150 Long Neck Point Road. He didn’t have a solicitor’s permit, violating a town ordinance.
He told police he was not soliciting but collecting donations for charity. He works for Self Starters Inc., headquartered in Bradenton, Fla.
When he was arrested, police found that arrest warrants had been filed in 2009 by police in Stamford, Fairfield, New Canaan and Stratford after the man failed to pay his fines or plea his case. In each case, he’d been picked up in June 2009. He had hundreds of dollars in bonds to pay for each charge, and he paid them all.
Since Gilbert’s 2009 arrests, Darien and many other Connecticut towns have changed their soliciting ordinances to allow those arrested to pay a bond for the same amount as the fine, which then is put toward the fine unless the arrestee contests the matter in court. That way, no arrest warrants are filed, allowing both the town and arrestee to put the matter behind them, saving money for both.
On June 12, Westport police charged the man with third-degree criminal trespass, according to the Connecticut Judicial Branch website. He was scheduled to appear in various courts on the 2009 charges on Thursday, and his cases in state Superior Court in Norwalk were continued to Monday, and in state Superior Court in Stamford to Oct. 1.