He didn’t think leaving trash cans out was a big deal – then the arrest warrant came

Robert Damora says something stinks and it’s not his trash can.

The 62-year-old Fort Worth man was steaming mad after opening his mailbox recently and finding a notice that a warrant has been issued for his arrest.

His crime?

Violating the city’s trash-cart rules.

“This smacks of wrong. This is just wrong,” Damora said. “I think they need to go about this in a different way.”

Fort Worth treats code enforcement seriously and even offers “Trash Troubles” classes for offenders.

In 2015, Fort Worth residents received 111 citations for waste-cart violations, including putting out bulk garbage too early and improperly storing carts. In 33 instances, arrest warrants were issued.

So far this year, 68 waste-related citations and six arrest warrants have been issued.

“People don’t think of it as a criminal offense and it really is,” said Theresa Ewing, director of the Fort Worth Municipal Court. “We have an entire court that’s dedicated to our code enforcement group. That’s one of their main focuses. We have a dedicated judge for that.”

A recent informal report given to City Council members says code compliance officers investigated more then 41,000 code complaints in fiscal 2015. Of those, about 60 percent were initiated by the officers and the rest by residents’ complaints.

As of Aug. 4 this year, code enforcement officers had worked more than 38,000 complaints, 63 percent of them officer-initiated.

‘Keeping Fort Worth beautiful’

City spokeswoman Diane Covey said that in general, code officers first issue a notice of violation — a warning — to offenders, describing the violation and giving a timeline for it to be addressed.

She said residents are encouraged to contact the officer with any questions or to work out an arrangement or compliance plan.

“Code officers are more than willing to work with residents, especially if the violation includes a cost to have the violation taken care of — such as replacing a roof,” Covey said.

Code officers will later return to the property to make sure the violation was addressed. If it has been, the case is closed, she said.

If the violation is not addressed by the deadline and no attempt is made to contact the code officer, a citation is issued, she said.

The majority of citations issued in Fort Worth are for substandard structures, trash and debris, contaminated bulk and out-of-cycle bulk, Covey said.

“A lot of this stuff is grounded in health and safety issues as well as keeping Fort Worth beautiful,” Covey said.

The average cost of a “trash and debris” citation is $564, Covey said, but can go up to $2,000.

Covey said code enforcement records show that officers have responded to Damora’s residence several times since 2007 because of neighbors’ complaints, mostly regarding debris and items stored in his front yard.

She said the items were removed and the cases always closed without further action.

Attended ‘Trash Troubles’ class

But on Oct. 12, 2015, Damora received his first — and so far only — citation for leaving his trash carts out too long, according to code enforcement records. The citation came 11 days after an officer issued him a warning about the same violation, Covey said.

“Monday is his neighborhood’s trash day. His carts were still out on Tuesday afternoon,” Covey said records show.

Damora said he recalled the code officer telling him the citation was for putting nonrecyclable items in the recycling cart.

Nonetheless, he said, he went to court and agreed to attend a $30 “Trash Troubles” class in lieu of paying the $300-plus fine. The two-hour course, offered in English and Spanish, teaches participants about the trash rules as well as other code enforcement issues.

Last year, 33 Fort Worth residents took the class and this year, 12, attendance records show.

Damora said he had been trying to follow the trash rules since the class but acknowledges leaving his trash carts outside his garage, in public view, an extra day or two. He thought that was why officials issued a warrant for his arrest.

But after contacting municipal court officials, the Star-Telegram learned that the warrant was issued after Damora failed to turn in to the court a certificate proving that he had attended the course.

‘This is really drastic’

Damora said he asked a woman at the class what the deadline was for dropping off the certificate at the court.

“She said, ‘You don’t really need to drop it off because we have it down here that you did finish the course,’ ” he said.

Ewing points out that Trash Troubles instructions explain that the certificate of completion must be presented to the court, in person, within 120 days to have the ticket dismissed.

Though Damora still has the completion certificate, he said, he’s too worried to try to take it to the municipal court now.

“I’m really afraid to go down there because I don’t want to suddenly be told, ‘Mr. Damora, you’re going to have to wait for a couple minutes’ and suddenly police come out and they arrest me,” he said.

Instead, he’s hired an attorney to fight the matter. He said he recently received notice that a hearing has been set for October.

“This is really drastic. This is going to ruin a person’s day,” Damora said. “You’re a criminal because you left your trash cans out. It’s ludicrous.”

This story was originally published September 8, 2016 at 12:59 PM with the headline "He didn’t think leaving trash cans out was a big deal – then the arrest warrant came."