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Barefoot Man Not Homeless: Jeffrey Hillman, Given Boots By NYPD Officer, Has Bronx Apartment
Digital News ^

Posted on 12/05/2012 8:21:47 AM PST by marthemaria

he barefoot man helped by a kind cop in New York City is not actually homeless.

Last week, we told you about the heartwarming story of an NYPD officer giving a homeless and barefoot man a pair of winter boots.

The story seemed almost too good to be true. And, according to one report, that is in fact the case.

The New York Daily News reported on Monday that the barefoot man in question, Jeffrey Hillman, is not actually homeless. Instead, he has an apartment in the Bronx thanks to disability benefits and vouchers.

The article also notes that Jeffrey Hillman has repeatedly turned down assistance from local agencies.

"Officer [Lawrence] DePrimo's kindness and generosity complemented an array of housing and support services provided by the city over the past several years," said Barbara Brancaccio, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeless Services.

Jeffrey Hillman reportedly resided in transitional housing from 2009 to late 2011 before getting his current home through the Department of Veteran Affairs. According to the New York Times, Jeffrey Hillman was a food service specialist in the Army for five years.

The Times also reported last week that the barefoot man who is not homeless was back on the streets a few days later. Once again, Hillman was barefoot, telling reporters that he had hidden the shoes so they would not be stolen.

However, Jeffrey Hillman made sure to thank the NYPD Officer DiPrimo for the random act of kindness.

"I appreciate what the officer did, don't get me wrong," he said. "I wish there were more people like him in the world."

"I want to thank everyone that got onto this thing," Hillman continued. "I want to thank them from the bottom of my heart. It meant a lot to me.

(Excerpt) Read more at idigitaltimes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: homeless
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To: DesertRhino
A friend om mine actually works at a welfare's and tries to help people get a place to live.The city he works in is known for extremely expensive apartments. The shocking thing is that people actually say no to apartments even though they are perfectly fine. They complain about minor issues that its not completely in the center of the city, or to small or not nice enough. These are people that have been homeless for quite some time living in shelters,even with families.And while they say no the government still has to keep providing them temporary housing.
21 posted on 12/05/2012 9:22:35 AM PST by marthemaria
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To: marthemaria

Well look on the warm side: those boots found a nice warm home in his Bronx apartment.


22 posted on 12/05/2012 9:24:08 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: marthemaria

So, it was still an act of kindness. God Bless the officer. Better to hear stories like this then dogs being shot of homeless men being shot by the Po Po.


23 posted on 12/05/2012 9:26:01 AM PST by crazydad (Obamamohamed is a traitor)
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To: marthemaria

Scammer = Democrat


24 posted on 12/05/2012 9:26:12 AM PST by Vaduz
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To: marthemaria
No wonder he didn't appear very thankful or impressed with the boots. Wearing them would have upset his gig and cost him sympathy and panhandling money.

Now he has to realize that the jig and gig is up.

25 posted on 12/05/2012 9:29:24 AM PST by Uncle Chip
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To: DesertRhino

-— I thought she would pop a critical vessel. lol -—

Well done!


26 posted on 12/05/2012 9:32:29 AM PST by St_Thomas_Aquinas
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To: bolobaby

He wasn’t a beggar, he was a Con Man. Chances are good that there was also a pickpocket working the crowd. What if instead of asking you for $2, he asked you for $50 billion to stimulate the economy? It’s just a bigger con.


27 posted on 12/05/2012 9:50:08 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: blueunicorn6

The leaders of the Democrat party are all con men. They tell everyone they’re for the poor while they’re rich? The Clinton’s came to D.C. writing off their dirty underwear. Yes, they wrote a couple books, but they have loads of money now. They are Shills in The Big Democrat Con Game.


28 posted on 12/05/2012 9:55:29 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: marthemaria

You want to know why Bruce Sprinsteen supports Obama? It’s because they’re both con men. When you buy a Springsteen CD for $15, what do you get? A nickels worth of plastic and papr and a good feeling. He knows it’s a con. Same with Robert Redford....he’s a con man and not just in that movie. You pay $10 to see one of his movies, and what do you have? You rent a seat for a couple of hours and you have an emotional feeling. It’s a con. And Redford knows it. That’s why he’s such a liberal Democrat. They like con men.


29 posted on 12/05/2012 10:00:56 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: marthemaria

The real purpose of the so ridiculed “church lady”.

She knew who was who and who needed what.


30 posted on 12/05/2012 10:18:17 AM PST by donna (Pray for revival.)
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To: bolobaby

Amazing story. Wouldn’t you think such a fellow would have it together enough to hold down a job?

I got taken several years ago in front of the grocery store where I would do my weekly shopping. As I was on my way in, there was a guy talking on the pay phone that was on the outside wall of the place. In a very animated fashion he was telling the person at the other end about his predicament.

As I approached he share his problem with me. He was out of gas and wanted to know if I could spare a dollar. Normally, I just tell such people “no”, but it was Christmas time and it was cold outside. I had my doubts, but I gave him $5.

Sure enough, when I came out of the store, about one hour later, there he was pretending to be on the phone still, and, not even remembering the woman who gave him a fiver, asked me again for money.

My guess is that he wanted the money for drugs.


31 posted on 12/05/2012 10:31:43 AM PST by Bigg Red (Sorry, Mr. Franklin, I guess we couldn't keep it.)
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda
I put it in my back pocket and let it stick out bit and walked from 7th ave and 42nd st heading north. Before I even got two blocks I thought I felt something, so I reached around and guess what? The wallet was gone!

Maybe it fell out.

In any case it's not clear that the pickpocket situation in Times Square is worse than it was over 50 years ago: link (2 pages)

New York has millions of people. Some of them are pickpockets. What is the first place any of them are going to think about when they are looking for large crowds of people, some of whom will be naive tourists?

32 posted on 12/05/2012 10:42:39 AM PST by wideminded
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda
According to this, the "art" of pickpocketing is actually dying out in the United States.
33 posted on 12/05/2012 11:44:16 AM PST by wideminded
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To: GrandJediMasterYoda

In my defense, that was a really nice wallet.


34 posted on 12/05/2012 12:35:01 PM PST by lowbridge (Joe Biden: "Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy.")
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To: marthemaria

I didn’t read a word of this story or watch the video when it originally came out.

Because I knew it was BS.

America is awash in a sea of discarded/extra shoes/boots/socks.

It is literally impossible to go without shoes here. One time some fellow employees found a pair of boots in the work dumpster...brand new Timberlands...I wore them for work boots for 2 years until they fell apart. Looking back they were probably murder boots that had been tossed but I wasn’t going to let perfectly good boots in my size go to waste. And I’ve never been a hobo.

And even if that weren’t true...if used foot wear still had value in America, and we didn’t have literally billions of pairs of unwanted shoes...then I might believe a hobo was sitting around in the cold city shoeless.

The story stank from the beginning. My sympathy is with the officer for getting taken. Hopefully it causes him to think about what being “homeless” in America really means, and how manipulative the vast majority are.

As an aside...I once got into an argument with a hobo that always begs at a local intersection.

Hobo: You don’t know how hard it is to live in the woods.
Me, from the window of my work truck, begrimed from a day’s labor: You don’t know how hard it is to get up every morning and go to work.

That hobo refuses to look at me anymore...and I’m pretty sure him and the three other hobos that share that spot have a trailer in a trashy little trailer park about a half mile from their begging spot.

As I re-read this wall of text I realize it comes across as me disliking hobos. And that’s exactly right...I have no respect for beggars. I used to live in a city that has a high percentage of panhandlers...they’d come up and ask for money, I’d tell them I’d give them a quarter if they told me a joke, or did a little dance. I guess they were all too dignified to do so because I never had a single taker.


35 posted on 12/05/2012 1:16:36 PM PST by Freeeedooomm
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