[sushiburps]

I worked in the Providence Place Mall as a retail employee when the secret apartment was discovered in the parking garage. The mall has an interesting network of back hallways. The facades of the public area ended when you entered one, replaced with concrete and exposed iron beams, with odd nooks and crannies.

When the apartment was discovered the police considered it a legitimate public safety threat, but in the following days Michael Townsend's statements around his intentions transformed the narrative. People were fascinated with the secret apartment, and Townsend spared no detail to quench their curiosity. He faced serious criminal trespassing charges, but I think his apologetic transparency, and the artsy culture of Providence, were influential in the lenient consequences he ultimately received.

Townsend is still an active artist in Providence[1], with his secret apartment now Providence folklore. He is still banned from entering the mall to this day.

99% Invisible did a great episode on it[2].

[1] https://tapeart.com/ [2] https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/the-accidental-room/

[flatiron]

"The prosecution rattled through a laundry list of offenses. But the judge didn’t seem too impressed by the charges — if anything, he appeared more impressed by the audacity of the secret apartment dwellers. So he gave Townsend a misdemeanor for trespassing and sent him on his way. Townsend, who had lived on and off in the secret apartment for nearly 4 years, got away with a slap on the wrist"

if anyone was wondering what punishment he got

[jrochkind1]

It's amazing how disparate treatment by the criminal justice system can be, depending on whether a judge is capable of being (and decides to be) be sympathetic/empathetic to the wrong-doer, curious about them, decides to basically view them as a human being. A lot of people don't get that "privilege". (And to be sure, I think everybody should, not that nobody should).

[vgeek]

What about Chuck Mangione living in the Megalo Mart on King of the Hill? Malcolm in the Middle also had an episode where a guy was living in the store for years without being detected.

[dolmen]

https://kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Chuck_Mangione

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_in_the_Middle

@vgeek If you have more information about the episode I would appreciate that.

[vgeek]

https://kingofthehill.fandom.com/wiki/Megalo_Dale - this is probably one of the top 10 episodes of the series, so if you haven't seen the show before, it is a great introduction.

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0640296/ - not much of a synopsis here, but enough to track down the episode. The guy helps clean and saves one of the characters during his stay between the aisle shelves.