One of the highlights of this year's Video Music Awards was the speech about homeless youth made by Jesse Helt, a homeless man who accepted the Video of the Year award on Miley Cyrus' behalf. Though the speech helped raise awareness about homeless youth in this country, today we're learning more about Jesse Helt, including his criminal history. According to E! News, there is currently a warrant out for Helt's arrest.
22-year-old Helt, an aspiring model originally from Salem, Oregon, is wanted by police for allegedly violating his probation on several occasions, including failure to take a drug test, failure to report to his probation officer, breaking curfew, and not finishing his required community service hours, among other things. His probation is related to charges of burglary, criminal trespassing, and criminal mischief, dating back as far as 2010.
At Sunday's Video Music Awards ceremony, Helt accepted the Video of the Year award, which was given to Cyrus' "Wrecking Ball" video. "I'm accepting this award on behalf of 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths who are starving lost and scared right now," he said in his speech. "I know this because I am one of these people. I have survived in shelters all over this city."
Though Helt may or may not actually be a criminal (I'm not here to judge), his VMA speech should nonetheless make it obvious that homelessness among America's youth is a huge problem. You can visit Miley Cyrus' Facebook page to make a donation to My Friend's Place, a youth homeless shelter in Hollywood.
