I don't think that's correct. I believe he was being arrested for soliciting. The unit that busted him was a quality of life unit. It's a unit that is usually dispatched to where there are a lot of annoying public solicitations. Some areas get overrun like that.
Do you remember in NYC when there were squeegee men harassing people in cars at traffic lights?
OK, well, that’s not what any of the reports say (although of course they could lie.) Even on the “right,” the story is that he was selling “loosies” for the umpteenth time.