SAN DIEGO (KGTV) A grandmother is no longer due in court after being ticketed for promoting her faith at a trolley station.
Gloria Sanchez is a Jehovah’s Witness and received a citation by MTS guards last week after handing out religious pamphlets at the San Ysidro MTS station.
Guards told her it was illegal for her to be selling things without a permit even though she was handing out the faith-related literature for free, according to her grandson.
“She feels like she was treated like a criminal,” said Francisco Arreola.
After 10News contacted MTS about the incident, they dismissed the citation saying she should have received a warning first.
In a statement to 10News, MTS wrote:
The person cited in this instance did not have a permit for First Amendment activities – passing out religious literature – at the San Ysidro Transit Center. She was in violation of MTS Policy 62[sdmts.com], but was cited under the wrong ordinance. Additionally, MTS security personnel should have explained the policy and issued a warning. Given that there is no record of previous violations, the MTS Chief of Police has decided to dismiss the citation.
MTS will contact the person who received the citation directly regarding next steps.
MTS has designated first amendment areas in their stations and people looking to purvey anything will need to contact officials before doing so.
