Gaya Jenkins missed her bus.
She was headed to Denver, to receive treatment for cancer, but now she would have to catch a later ride. While she waited, she decided to charge her phone through one of the outlets in front of the old courthouse on the Pearl Street Mall.
It was a decision that would, nearly a year later, land her in jail.
Jenkins was one of nine people in the past two years to receive a ticket from the Boulder Police Department for using city outlets to charge their phones or other devices. The charge: theft of a public utility.
Cops say those tickets are rare, and officers issue them only if offenders don’t heed warnings. Critics allege police were twisting city and state laws in order to penalize the homeless.
“Charging a phone represents a fraction of a penny in electricity use,” said Darren O’Connor, of Boulder Rights Watch. “To call that stealing is a stretch.”
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