Posted on 12/05/2012 6:36:35 AM PST by Slings and Arrows
The homeless man who was given a pair of boots by a kindhearted New York City police officer apparently isn't homeless. According to the New York Daily News, Jeffrey Hillman, 54, has an apartment in the Bronx that is paid for via a combination of rent vouchers, Social Security, and military veteran benefits.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
It’s been said many times that there are homeless people who prefer it that way.
That’s where he “hid” the boots.
So it was a scam.
“Will go barefoot for food.
It takes wisdom to be charitable.
The USA is in unknown territory in terms of understand what our population really needs. We have unlimited demand at food banks, yet the fattest population on the planet. Everyone can go to college, yet we are bankrupting ourselves with school debt. We give boots to the homeless, but turns out they aren’t homeless.
We suffer from poverty, but its not material poverty.
I am sure he claims all this on his 10-99, and pays his "fair share" /sarc
The cop’s generosity was genuine. The bum’s need...yep, scam.
He’s not a homeless guy. He’s a crazy guy. So he fits right in with most of the people who are actually homeless.
I’m disgusted, but not surprised.
twister881 wrote: “Will go barefoot for food.
Now That’s funny!
And he probably makes around $40K per year (tax free) begging.
In my building there’s a guy who collects disability benefits and has subsidized rent. Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home, then carries it up the stairs to his apartment on the 4th floor.
He didn’t really want shoes, he just wanted a few bucks from each passerby.
That’s what the Huff Post thinks he deserves... but it isn’t what he’s got.
Some folks who actually DO need wheelchairs ought to protest this phony but good.
From my experience, giving to panhandlers...
This deal where panhandlers do not live on the street has been the norm for a long time. People begging nowadays almost never live in a cardboard box like they used to. Most have government assistance. They are simply taking a little initiative to bolster the income they get from the government. Many have enough drug and disease problems that they could not really get a real job, but certainly all of them don’t try to earn on the side. Some actually try to do odd jobs here and there on the side to make money. Rotted out teeth on a relatively young person typically means a lot of drugs. Hanging on the streets begging, however, does put them at risk if they look like they have anything worth money on them, or drugs on them, or money on them. The more violent folks on the street will rob other street people. Shelters can be unsafe for them. Giving them a lot of money, or a nice pair of boots like the cop gave the dude, is dangerous for them. And, word can spread quickly if you give someone a lot of money, and you may find much more aggressive panhandlers coming up to you and being very pushy.
The left LIKES this behavior, they condone it. You won’t ever get a sheeperal to admit it, but they definitely wouldn’t support any action to put a stop to it.
They like the gov’t doing “charity” because there is no oversight (”judging”) of the need of the recipients.
There are at least two stories here and maybe three, not one. It is a fallacy to talk about “the story” as though there is only one.
Police officer and others are made a fool of by scam artist .
That should be the title of this thread ,
Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home,
I used to give to the people begging on the street until one day while going to work I saw the man who daily sat on his flat board with rollers roll into the entrance of a shop, get up and comb his hair in the mirrored display case. That ended my giving on the streets. There are good, caring, charitable people in America and there are those who would gladly scam them. That’s been happening since the beginning of time. It’s a shame.
That is so true. Sadly I quit ALL "donation" to everything. I have tried to give a "homeless and hungry" man lunch to be told, "I don't want yo samich, you got a couple of bucks?" been told to "keep your damn food" etc.. I am guessing they really weren’t that hungry. I have seen kids in South America dang near kill each other for a pack of M&Ms.
I give to our church and let them decide the best way to help out in the local community, and in the mission field.
It is sad when pan handling becomes a job, and way of life. Stories like this make it hard for people to care.
I’ll give a beggar food, but not money. That’s why.
Interesting. Sounds like eddie murphy in “Trading places”. So the $1 bet is whether the guy is messed up due to genetics or a bad environment.
There was an earlier thread that the ‘homeless’ guy also had relatives who lived in the area. They would periodically help him out, etc.
Evidence seems to be mounting that he was ‘homeless’ and shoeless by choice, not by circumstances.
You choose to ignore large pieces of truth then.
I grew up in NYC. I never give to panhandlers. Never.
This story underscores the premise that many, if not most, are out there because they know the scam works.
May God bless that cop for his concern for his fellow man and spirit of charity he demonstrated.
I give generously but only to charities and organizations that are responsible with the disbursement of their funds.
“In my building there’s a guy who collects disability benefits and has subsidized rent. Every day he can be seen a few blocks from here panhandling while sitting in a wheelchair. At the end of the day he gets up, pushes the wheelchair home, then carries it up the stairs to his apartment on the 4th floor.”
Why don’t you take pictures and video then report him for disability fraud?
Professor Irwin Corey - hardly a pauper - was caught near his apartment panhandling!
Bingo.
He still isn’t doing very well. If those organizations get their funding cut, he WILL be homeless. Sounds like he is still surviving precariously close to homelessness.
A scam like this can’t help but backfire on him, though. He’s been outed and I wonder if “more honest” homeless will take kindly to him if he finds themselves among them.
“It takes wisdom to be charitable.”
I believe there was a Papal encyclical a few years back that touted the necessity of linking charity to “understanding”. This caught my eye because I am Buddhist, and our view is the same. Many people, even some Buddhist practitioners, equate Buddhism with an all-out, unthinking compassion. But the correct understanding is that, just as a bird cannot fly with only one wing, virtuous behavior is only possible with a union of compassion and wisdom.
Nice job, media...you fell for another pile of crap. Just like you fell in love with Obamugabe.
Most developed religions of the world make efforts to see beyond the surface of affairs. At most only one can be completely correct.
Stossel only netted $11/hour as a bum? He wasn’t trying hard enough :-)
Really, the concept of “financial security” doesn’t exist.
Even if you have enough in “savings” to last you the rest of your life, with enough “quantitative easing”, that can be worthless in a couple of years.
Our only security lies in God, ultimately. He’s the only thing that can’t be shaken.
</facetious>
Actually, that’s Rush Limbaugh’s old NY apartment. Some of these looters make a mighty fine living tho.
BOLO for Jeffrey Hillman, 54, barefoot scam artist.
I smelled scam when I saw the picture. He was sitting barefoot outside a shoe store.
Funny story. A guy came into the Firehouse one day panhandling. One of the Firefighters , a black guy, really nice guy good Fireman, nice man,told him if he was hungry he would fix him some soup.
The Firefighter sat the guy down fixed him some soup, and just as the panhandler sat down to eat it we got a run.
When we came back the Firefighters shoes were gone, and the soup was still on the table. I won’t soon forget the Firefighter walking the streets in his long boots looking for the guy who stole his shoes.
Yes, and complete with the photographer who just happens to be the supervisor of a police call center.
Actually, it’s not an apartment, it’s a townhouse in a private mews, and he’s not panhandling, he sells newspapers - partly out of the performer’s desperation to have an audience, and partly because he hasn’t been right on the head since his wife died two years ago.
Which is exactly why I never give money to panhandlers. They probably make more money than I do...
Maybe the officer can buy him some new drapes for his apartment.
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