Again, not a good idea to judge a book by its cover

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Woman Calls Police on 'Homeless' Man Walking His Newborn. Turns Out It’s Her Neighbor (Exclusive)
After a routine morning walk with his infant daughter, a father of four was mistakenly reported as 'homeless' by a neighbor
Chapman Hamborg is an artist and father of four, living and working in Huntington Beach, Calif.

The 33-year-old is often found painting and sculpting in his backyard studio or surfing the waves near his home. His favorite pastime, however, is spending quality time with the family.

Since welcoming a newborn only a month ago, Hamborg’s routine involves daily walks around the neighborhood in an attempt to soothe his daughter and give his wife some time to relax. However, he never expected to have the police called on him for looking “homeless.”


Hamborg and his family live in a quiet beachside neighborhood, on a street located between a middle and high school, leading to a good amount of foot traffic. One early morning, the artist was walking his newborn daughter, as he often does, on a route that passes by the street behind their house.

“She's in her fussy newborn stage so I take her on lots of walks and I wear her in the baby carrier,” Hamborg tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I go out often in the middle of the night, like all times of the day and multiple times a day. It's kind of like a routine to give my wife some rest.”

However, their routine was interrupted as Hamborg and his daughter were returning from their second walk of the morning on April 22, 2025. By then, the family was up, the kids were playing outside, and he started helping his wife, Hannah, clean up inside.

It was his oldest son who pointed out the police car parked right in front of their house. At first, Hamborg wondered if someone had called the cops on his family, though he wasn’t sure why. He and the officer met halfway down his lawn and exchanged confused looks.

“He was very friendly and kind,” Hamborg explains. “So I wasn't on guard…I already kind of had a hint that there must have been some sort of miscommunicati on.”

The officer revealed that someone had reported a homeless person with a baby and found their address after following Hamborg home.

Hamborg, with his daughter still on his chest, was shocked and a bit embarrassed. The officer explained that a neighbor was concerned about what they saw and asked him to provide a form of identification . He immediately went inside to look for his wallet and to tell his wife what was happening. Hannah was in disbelief and decided to come outside for support.

“I was like shaking and — you can hear it in my voice in the video — my voice is just like all over the place,” he recalls. “I'm in my own home. I'm in my own neighborhood with my own baby and it's just wild that, that could happen… it's kind of crazy.”