Man with gun, $60,000 worth of drugs arrested at contentious West Loop encampment, police say
Police arrested a man with a gun and an estimated $60,000 worth of drugs near a West Loop homeless encampment where safety concerns sparked political debate between the mayor and an alderman.
Officers arrested 19-year-old Tailon Dshawn Appleton at 514 W. Lake St. on Thursday afternoon after an undercover officer made a drug transaction with him, according to court records.
In Appleton’s backpack, police found what they suspect were 141 ziplock bags of heroin, 230 knotted crack cocaine baggies, $1,188 in cash, one bottle of liquid codeine and one loaded Glock 19 handgun, according to an arrest report.
Cook County prosecutors charged Appleton with five felonies for drug and gun possession during a court appearance Friday.
While prosecutors requested he be detained, Judge Maryam Ahmad determined he should be released on electronic monitoring with a curfew, court records show. His next court appearance is scheduled for Dec. 19.
The Lake Street address of Appleton’s arrest is one of several locations under downtown viaducts at which tents where people sleep have lined sidewalks.
When Ald. Bill Conway, 34th, sought the support of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to remove tents in the area in early October, top Johnson adviser Jason Lee tied an offer to help to Conway’s votes on two pillars of the mayor’s progressive agenda, Conway told the Tribune in mid-November.
Lee sought Conway’s support on the approval of a referendum for an increased real estate transfer tax on properties over $1 million to help fund citywide homeless services and an ordinance ending subminimum wage for tipped restaurant workers.
Both policies have since passed in the City Council. Conway voted against the real estate transfer tax referendum and was absent for the vote on the tipped wage ordinance.
“I was shocked by what he said,” Conway told the Tribune of his conversations with Lee. “I wasn’t going to bargain with public safety.”
In another mid-November interview about the interaction, Lee acknowledged linking the issue of the camps with votes for the policies, but defended it as an appropriate deal.
“What I expressed to Ald. Conway is that … there’s a perception that doing something like removing encampments is not necessarily in line with progressive values and that it could be perceived as a callous act disconnected from the realities of what the unhoused and other vulnerable populations are going through,” Lee said.
“Ald. Conway demonstrating his commitment to progressive values, including eliminating the subminimum wage but most importantly Bring Chicago Home, is helpful to neutralize some of the criticism he might face in pursuing that.”
He added that police would continue to respond to issues with the encampments.
“There was never any notion that we would not continue to support efforts to secure public safety to the extent possible in these encampments,” Lee said. “The issue is removal.”
The day after the Tribune reported on the alleged quid pro quo, Johnson deflected questions about it, then described Conway’s accusations as “a mischaracterization” and said “pushing for real support around the unhoused (is) what this has always been about.”
“On a weekly basis, our offices receive hundreds of phone calls and emails from nearby residents who report drug sales and drug use; lewd behavior and sex acts; propane tanks that present a danger to the community and rail line above; and threats of violence against pedestrians,” Conway and Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, wrote in a November petition signed by 1,500 residents and sent to Johnson.
At least four armed robberies and three shootings have occurred near the camps since early October, according to Conway’s office. Conway had first focused on an encampment near Union and Ogilvie stations.
Debate over tent encampments in the area stretches back beyond the recent controversy. In October 2022, activists resisted when the city sought to temporarily move newly donated winterized tents in the area for sidewalk cleaning.
Conway previously said he referred the matter to the city Inspector General’s Office. He commended the police for arresting Appleton in a statement to the Tribune Friday.
“As I’ve been saying, this area under the viaducts is not a peaceful encampment but rather a magnet for narcotics and violent crime,” he said. “Nothing is more important than public safety, and we will continue to request more resources from the mayor’s office to ensure it.”
Chicago Tribune’s Gregory Royal Pratt and Alice Yin contributed.
