Brooklyn woman finds soggy rugs on a Bushwick sidewalk and takes them home. A week later, she was in jail, ‘sobbing’ as the police handcuffed her

A Brooklyn woman says she was handcuffed, fingerprinted, and held for about seven hours at a Bushwick police precinct after officers accused her of stealing rugs she believed had been thrown away. Jocelyn Ullman, an interior decorator, told Gothamist she picked up the rugs while “stooping,” a common New York City practice of collecting items left out on sidewalks or stoops.

An NYPD spokesperson told the outlet that they received a complaint about a grand larceny involving $4,300 worth of rugs taken from outside Chyelle, a vintage store and cafe in Bushwick. Chyelle Milgrom, the store’s owner, told Gothamist that she had placed the rugs outside after her shop flooded, and that she later regretted contacting police at all.

Ullman said she was ultimately released without being charged. She said she was informed her mugshot and fingerprints would not be kept on record.

A pattern that is common in New York City stoop culture

Ullman says she found the rugs, soaked and left outside a Bushwick building, late at night. She said some were rolled up on the sidewalk while others were draped over a railing near the building’s steps, based on video she said she recorded at the time. “I do this very often. It’s a hobby of mine,” Ullman said, adding that she enjoys refurbishing discarded items.

Ullman said she believed the rugs had been discarded and planned to clean and reuse them for a client. She said she had her client purchase a steam cleaner to restore the rugs before learning, about a week later, that police were looking for her. “I woke up one day to multiple friends sending me the news report,” she said.

The NYPD apparently sent local media outlets a “request for media attention,” which included security camera images and asked for the public’s help identifying the person seen taking the rugs. The images reportedly showed Ullman photographing a rug and inspecting one draped over a railing. 

Ullman said she was worried about the impact on her reputation after the images circulated. She said she consulted an attorney and decided to retrieve the rugs from her client, refund her, and turn herself in at the precinct the next morning, along with the items. “I was put in handcuffs. I had a mugshot taken. I was fingerprinted,” Ullman said. “I’ve never been arrested. It was horrible. The second they put the handcuffs on me, I was just sobbing.”

She said she waited in a room for approximately seven hours before being released. Ullman also described an emotional moment during her detention connected to her mother’s death. The NYPD spokesperson said that the department “did our job to investigate the complaint.” The spokesperson said Ullman was not mistreated and referred additional questions to the Brooklyn district attorney’s office, which declined to comment because the case is sealed.

Milgrom said that her store flooded overnight after a water-carbonating appliance malfunctioned, and that she moved the rugs outside while cleaning up water inside the shop. She said a friend had warned her about possible mold growth, and that she weighed the risk of leaving the rugs outdoors against the risk of increased humidity indoors. Milgrom said she did not expect the rugs to be taken. Discarded items can lead to legal trouble too, as a Georgia woman faces 75 years in prison over a T.J. Maxx return scheme. 

Milgrom said she contacted police mainly to obtain security footage from her landlord, who told her the footage could be pulled at police request or, alternatively, retrieved through the camera vendor for an estimated fee of $250. Milgrom said she had not anticipated that filing a report would lead to an arrest or media coverage, saying, “I didn’t think that they would take this seriously.”

In text messages shared with Gothamist, Milgrom told a detective she did not want to press charges or have anyone arrested, particularly if the person came forward voluntarily. She said she was unaware Ullman had been handcuffed and held until Ullman told her in person afterward, and that she later apologized to Ullman. Milgrom also revealed that she faced online criticism, including negative reviews and speculation about her motives, after the story spread.

Steven Wasserman, an associate law professor at John Jay College and a retired Legal Aid Society public defender, told Gothamist that criminal intent is central to such cases, pointing to the 1948 Supreme Court case Morissette v. United States, in which a conviction for taking scrap metal was overturned because prosecutors could not prove intent to steal. 

Wasserman said that after reviewing the footage, the rugs on the sidewalk appeared to have been discarded, while those on the railing “have much less of a discarded look.” He said police were following procedure in making the arrest, but that it made sense that no charges were pursued once Milgrom decided not to press the matter. The incident highlights how quickly a misunderstanding can escalate to arrest, a concern echoed in other cities, such as when an Atlanta woman was threatened with arrest while trying to make a turn.