Chicago TribuneCops expect dismissal of charges vs. activists seeking Obamacare signupsBy Geoff Ziezulewicz Tribune reporter
8:30 p.m. CDT, March 30, 2014
Chicago police on Sunday said they expect a judge to dismiss a case against two men whom officers arrested last week but later learned were community activists canvassing door to door.
Felipe Hernandez, 20, and Kevin Tapia, 19, were arrested Tuesday in the Garfield Ridge neighborhood, where their employer, Grassroots Collaborative, said they were helping people sign up for health care under the Affordable Care Act in the area around 5500 South Normandy Avenue.
The two men were charged with misdemeanor soliciting unlawful business after police received a 911 call from a resident, said Chicago Police Department spokesman Adam Collins. When officers arrived, the men could not provide ID from the organization, he said, and could not tell officers the name of their supervisor.
Collins, who said the Southwest Side has seen a “rash of door-to-door scams” where criminals posing as government employees have been burglarizing the elderly, said officers learned of the men’s affiliation with Grassroots Collaborative the following day, Collins said.
“This information, which was not available to officers at the time of the arrest, will surely be presented when the matter goes before a judge and the case should be disposed of at that time,” he said.
Grassroots Collaborative spokesman Nathan Ryan said Sunday that the workers, both Latino, were harassed based on their race, which Collins denied.
The men’s arrest comes amid a last-minute scramble to get the uninsured enrolled in Obamacare by the 11 p.m. Monday enrollment deadline.
“This is crunch time for us,” Ryan said.
The two are due back in court on the charges on May 16, according to Cook County court records.
