Likely very few people think it is lucrative to take advantage of homeless people, but one former outreach worker is still paying the consequences for trying.
The Oregon Government Ethics Commission (OGEC) approved a final settlement April 10 for claims against the local social media influencer Kevin Dahlgren for violating state law when he worked in homeless services for the city of Gresham. The settlement includes a $3,000 civil penalty, and all claims included in the case will be released.
Dahlgren worked for the city of Gresham between 2018 and 2023 as a homeless services specialist, where part of his duties included using a city-issued card to purchase food, lodging, and gas for his clients experiencing poverty and homelessness. But an OGEC review beginning in January 2024 found that Dahlgren used his clients’ identities to document purchases and receive points on those purchases for his personal benefit. The OGEC order approved last week is the end result of the state’s investigation into the former city employee’s conduct.
State law says public officials “may not attempt to further or further the personal gain of the public official through the use of confidential information gained in the course of or by reason of holding position as a public official or activities of the public official.”
As part of his work as a homeless services specialist for the city, he was required to use a city-issued card to purchase goods. But Dahlgren used numbers for personal rewards program benefits at stores like Walmart or Fred Meyer, according to the OGEC settlement. That wasn’t part of his official compensation, and the practice violated state ethics law, the commission found.
OGEC spokesperson Casey Fenstermaker said all penalties paid to OGEC go to the state general fund.
The commission voted 7-0 to approve the order. Dahlgren did not respond to the Mercury’s requests for comment.
The order noted that under state law, OGEC is required to consider the public interest, and any other penalty that has already been imposed as a result of the same conduct. The OGEC settlement is for violation of state ethics laws, but Dahlgren has faced previous legal peril in a criminal case over the same conduct.
In January 2025, Dahlgren pleaded guilty in Multnomah County Circuit Court to multiple felony counts of theft, aggravated identity theft, and official misconduct for some of the same practices. Some charges were dropped as a part of a plea deal. In his plea documents, he said he failed to correct a false impression he created by using made-up names on the grocery receipts.
“…[O]n 10 occasions, I, with intent to deceive, made up identities and wrote the made-up names on receipts representing that they were the names of people who had received the items listed on the receipts,” Dahlgren said.
He added that he knowingly acted “with intent to obtain a benefit of appearing to comply with required departmental procedures.”
Dalghren was sentenced to five days in jail, 60 months of probation, and 360 hours of community service. He was also sentenced to pay $16,500 to the city of Gresham.
While Dahlgren was once entrusted to do outreach work and provide services to unhoused people, he is best known to most as the man who films them for his own web content. Under his online moniker “Truth on the Streets,” Dahlgren positions himself as a “boots on the ground journalist sharing the reality of the streets.” He has nearly 400,000 followers on Instagram, and 100,000 on YouTube.
In his videos, Dahlgren can be seen interviewing homeless Portlanders, often multiple times a day, in various phases of life. Some of the interviews appear to happen with the consent of the interviewee, while he films others at a distance as people experience distress from mental health or substance use. Dahlgren interviewed gubernatorial candidate Chris Dudley in February, and published a five-minute interview with Mayor Keith Wilson in January, in collaboration with local influencer accounts PDX Real, John Collins, and Thomas Hatsis.