From KCRA.com (a story from my neck of the woods):
by Claire Doan
Police say two self-proclaimed professional panhandlers were raking in $180 an hour. They say they even sent thousands of dollars overseas.
Police say in just two hours a couple, Marian and Elena Hornea, made $265 just by panhandling. Money doesn’t grow on trees, but money is easy to get at this corner in Modesto, where police seized all the cash from two self-proclaimed Romanian gypsies who say begging is their job.
They have an organized log; they have times of day that work best. What works best, says the couple, is their children. They told police they use their five-year-old and seven-year-old to make money. To use a child scam is really unconscionable.
Some panhandlers say the couple are ruining it for people who really do need help.
Police found the couple with money transfer receipts of $3,700 sent to relatives in Romania, and that they have panhandled here many times. Police say it is better to give to charities than directly to those on the street.
You can rest assured that these two entrepreneurs have already signed up for every entitlement and bit of Free Cheese provided by the City of Modesto, State of Fornicalia and the federal government.
I’ll bet they claim it all for the IRS, too.
Heck yeah they do. Good, hard working Americans.
BZ
I confess I chuckled as I watched that video esp the reactions. People who’ve never had any experience with gypsies wonder why they are disliked in most of Europe. When I first came to this country many years ago it was common to see certain young girls begging. They’d zero in on ‘non locals’, stick out their hands and in a pitiful voice ask for money but not local currency, ooh no. They wanted Foreign currency. And they were insistent. In Rome gangs of gypsy children surround you and good luck to you. It’s their life style. And when the girls get bigger they move on to ‘bigger prey’. Austria had a real problem several years ago when they’d come in by the busloads, beg and go home. It’s what they do and they see it as perfectly normal. It is their way of life.
They haven’t changed in generations and they don’t want to. But I gotta ask, is what they are doing there illegal? Can the police legally seize their money? The video says they were cited but for what? Were they in the country on visas? Were they causing any problems? I’m surprised child services wasn’t after them.
Well, at least they were well organised!
Many years ago I lived in El Paso, TX and we shopped at a store named Smith’s, it was part of a grocery chain out west, the stores were clean and had a great selection of food and such.
Long story short; I was a *soft touch* back in the day, there was an old Mexican woman, a gypsy type judging by her apparel, and she had this little girl with her as she begged for cash in from of Smith’s every day, or, part of the day… I guess she had certain times too..
Anyway, it was Christmas time and we were shopping at Dillard’s in the Cielo Vista mall and as we walked past the jewelry department there she was, her and the grubby little kid..
I was certain it was her except she looked like a beautiful, well dressed woman and the kid looked like a little princess, so, I followed them around for a bit and when they left I saw them get into a NEW Chrysler New Yorker, this was about 1984 or 85 and the New Yorker was a top notch car, well equipped and expensive, and that was her car, with Mexican plates..
Well, as it turns out, not long after Christmas we were back at Smith’s and there she and the kid were, dirty, rags for clothes and begging, and as I pulled through the lot I drove behind the store and there was the Chrysler..
We got parked and started into the store and the woman saw us and smiled, she knew I was always good for a few bucks but this time I walked past her and dropped nothing, not even change…
She says “Senor, are you not going to help an old lady taking care of her poor, pitiful grandchild?”
I asked how she enjoyed the Chrysler and buying jewelry at Dillard’s and she nearly fainted…
I spoke with the manager at Smith’s and told him what I had seen and he was shocked.. Needless to say, she had to get a new *begging spot*..
Begging; the 2nd oldest occupation…