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Surveillance cameras show homeless people using nonprofit lot for bathroom needs and sex acts

Posted at 10:45 PM, Oct 05, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-06 02:11:35-04

Unbelievable things are caught on camera outside a downtown nonprofit. The executive director says homeless people are using their parking lot for bathroom needs and even sex acts. 

The Embracing Project works with young survivors of sex trafficking and violence. Right outside their back door is where Executive Director Esther Brown is confronted with the issues of another of our community's most vulnerable citizens, the homeless.

"Anything you can think of it happens in this little area," said Brown. 

Surveillance video captures it all. A woman defecating. A man engaged in a lewd act. Another man who appears to be arguing with an imaginary figure. There is a man using their water to bathe and several homeless men and women captured at various times just hanging around.

To discourage it the organization has posted signs, installed cameras , increased lighting, but is still spending hundreds of dollars on a professional clean up company to remove the waste.

"This is a health issue. This is affecting all of us here in the downtown area," Brown said. 

Brown has called police. They can only cite them with trespassing.

"I think the city needs to take responsibility and start building some access to those services." 

We reached out to the city of Las Vegas which encouraged the homeless to seek help at The Courtyard Homeless Resource Center which is located at 314 Foremaster Lane. 

The city's Chief  Public Information Officer provided 13 Action News with an emailed statement which read in part:

"The city is working with service providers, faith groups and other community partners to bring needed services to help our homeless population get off the streets and gain employment, housing and the skills they need to reenter society."

Brown has also considered hiring private security to patrol the property, but said she got an estimate of nearly $2,800 a week and she cannot afford that. Fencing the property would also be a large expense for a nonprofit .

"I don’t know what else to do," said Brown.