Escalon fires back in tussle with Modesto over claim of homeless dumping

Escalon’s city manager has responded to Modesto and Stanislaus County’s claims that its officers dumped two homeless people in Modesto by saying they have engaged in “blatant political grandstanding being waged at our expense” and not treating Escalon’s police chief with professional courtesy.

A passerby photographed an Escalon officer dropping the man and woman off Aug. 15 at the Rite Aid parking lot at Briggsmore and McHenry avenues. The photo ended up on Facebook, and a controversy was born.

Escalon City Manager Tammy Alcantor emailed her letter Tuesday to Modesto and Stanislaus County officials in response to their Aug. 20 letter in which they accused Escalon of dumping two homeless people here who have extensive criminal histories and no apparent connection to Modesto, and requested more information about the incident.

While stating that Escalon is not shipping homeless people to other communities, Alcantor also struck a conciliatory note in her letter. She wrote that Escalon apologizes for the “disruption that this incident has caused and hope that we can move forward as partners rather than adversaries.”

Alcantor included with her letter a copy of the police incident report. Escalon expects to send the police body camera footage around Sept. 10. The city is having the faces of the two homeless people obscured to protect their privacy. But Alcantor included with her letter an email exchange between Modesto Police Chief Galen Carroll and Escalon Police Chief Mike Borges.

Carroll accused Escalon police of dumping two homeless people and wrote that this was “not cool.” He also wrote that if the situation were reversed, Borges “would be pi--- too.” Borges acknowledged that by responding, “your right.”

Alcantor wrote that this matter “should have been addressed with a meeting between Chief Borges and Chief Carroll by reviewing the facts of the matter and discussing the incident.”

Alcantor repeated in her letter and in an interview what she and Borges have said about the incident: Escalon police were not dumping homeless people in Modesto, and Escalon does not have a practice of doing that.

Escalon officials have said the Aug. 15 incident started with police conducting a welfare check of a man lying on a sidewalk and provided him and the woman with him a courtesy ride to Modesto because the man and woman said they wanted to go to the Budgetel Inn & Suites on McHenry Avenue.

Officials have said the man had several hundred dollars, was no longer welcome at Escalon’s only motel, and is estranged from his family in Escalon. Alcantor wrote that based on previous interactions with the man, officers believed he had received services in Modesto.

Officials have said the man and woman changed their mind about the Budgetel during the ride, and the officer dropped them off at the Rite Aid parking lot a few blocks from the motel.

“The only thing I’m disappointed in is my officer did not drop them off where they requested to go and listened to them when they changed their mind,” Borges said previously. “... Had he dropped them off at the motel, I don’t think we would be having this conversation.”

Borges is on vacation and not available for comment.

Officials have identified the man as Dante Ciraolo, 57, and the woman as Andrea Caracciolo, 51.

Escalon — which is about 10 miles north of Modesto in San Joaquin County — has about 7,500 residents, and its homeless services consist of churches offering vouchers for lodging and food. Alcantor said the Police Department can provide courtesy rides to other communities so people can receive services.

She said she spoke with a sergeant who estimated that Escalon police do this four to six times a year. She said not all of those who receive rides are homeless. For instance, she said, police drove a domestic violence victim to Stockton. Alcantor said people are not forced into accepting these courtesy rides.

“While we understand that the City of Modesto and Stanislaus County have serious issues with the homeless population,” Alcantor wrote, “it was not our intent to add to the problem. This was an unfortunate situation of ‘no good deed goes unpunished’.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2018 at 4:21 PM.