Daytona Beach, FL – The homeless advocate blamed by Daytona Beach’s top cop for creating a homeless camp in downtown for over a month is trespassed from the shelter now housing many of the homeless involved in that protest.
Daytona Beach Police Chief Mike Chitwood says Michael “Pastor Mike” Pastore is not allowed to enter any of the 3 local properties owned by the Daytona Beach chapter of the Salvation Army, including its emergency shelter at 560 Ballough Road.
Chitwood – who appeared Friday on his monthly “Ask The Chief” segment with WNDB’s Marc Bernier – said the decision was made after he ordered a DBPD lieutenant to look into complaints made by the Salvation Army about Pastore earlier this week.
“They don’t want him on their property,” Chitwood added. “Apparently, what he was doing is… he did everything he could to trash the Salvation Army. Even when folks accepted shelter and went to the Salvation Army, he was showing up there, allegedly creating a disturbance.”
WNDB News has reached out to Salvation Army officials to get more information and have yet to hear back.
Chitwood went on to call Pastore a “cancer” who shouldn’t be involved in any political solution to the homeless problem, something that Daytona Beach and Volusia County elected leaders have been working towards ever since that homeless camp came to be last December in front of the county’s Administration Building on 250 North Beach Street.
“He needs to be cut out completely,” Chitwood noted. “When you look at this guy’s background and listen to the rhetoric, this guy shouldn’t even be invited to the table.”
DBPD has opened a fraud investigation into Pastore based in part on a YouTube video posted by other homeless advocates that claimed he was using the homeless for personal gain. (Click here for that story.)
Chitwood claims that some of the homeless told them Pastore promised them money if they stayed at the camp, which was created as a protest after the city closed nearby Manatee Island Park due to damage caused by the homeless staying there.
“When the TV masts went down, he went home,” Chitwood stated. “He wasn’t out there at night. That’s what elected leaders are standing behind to help get their message across and it’s a disgrace.”
DBPD broke up the camp the day before the Rolex 24 At Daytona race after renting out the Salvation Army shelter and enough motel rooms for the homeless to stay in, something Chitwood said the city’s legal department insisted on before officers could start trespassing people from the property.
Chitwood has blamed Pastore and an elected official for creating that camp and allowing it to turn into a hive of criminal activity that eventually led to at least 25 arrests before the camp was broken up. (Click here for that story.)
Chitwood didn’t say the elected official’s name but did make references to that official spending a night at the homeless camp before taking part in a public forum on homelessness the following day at the News-Journal Center. Volusia County Council member Josh Wagner – who participated in that forum – said he grew his hair and went undercover for the night at the camp to get a better understanding of the problem.
Among other comments made by Chitwood during the interview include that Pastore has tried to get hired on by the city as a “homeless czar”, that he wanted to create a “beer garden” for the homeless and that he delivered an “ultimatum” to Daytona Beach City Manager Jim Chisholm and Mayor Derrick Henry at the end of Wednesday night’s City Commission meeting.
“[That ultimatum concerns] me and my employment and political support if something doesn’t get done about me,” Chitwood stated.
Pastore – who has denied organizing the camp – responded on his Facebook account to Chitwood’s comments soon after the interview ended, saying that the chief needs anger management classes. He also posted several messages on Facebook demanding that Chisholm either retire or be fired.
Michael “Pastor Mike” Pastore (photo courtesy Daytona Beach TV)
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