CSPD: 60 arrested during Colorado Springs homeless camp cleanup, including sex offender out of Texas

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) – On the first day of a citywide collaborative effort to clean up homeless camps in the city, the Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) says it made 60 arrests, including a man wanted on a warrant for being a sexually violent predator.

CSPD said on April 2, their Homeless Outreach (HOT) team was speaking with people illegally camping around the area of America the Beautiful Park when they encountered 38-year-old Ricky James Custer.

The team discovered that Custer was wanted on a warrant out of Texas that identified him as a sexually violent predator. Custer was arrested and charged with failure to register as a sex offender and booked into the El Paso County Jail, CSPD said.

CSPD said it made 3 felony warrant arrests on April 2, including Custer. The department did not specify the reasons for the other felony warrants.

The team also made 54 misdemeanor warrant arrests and 3 misdemeanor drug arrests, and handed out 4 waterway tickets, 8 trespassing tickets, and 2 tickets for camping in parks.

The cleanup effort comes after the CSPD HOT team told KRDO13 they get dozens of complaints every single day of garbage, needles, and even feces due to the growing number of homeless camps in the city.

READ MORE: Colorado Springs police begin first of its kind, multi-day homeless camp cleanup