Remember the cop giving homeless guy shoes?

[WolfeMacleod]

Of course you do.






Man given boots by cop begs barefoot despite having a Bronx home and ‘30 pairs of shoes’ - NYPOST.com


Bum given boots by kind-hearted cop is back to begging barefoot
Panhandler has '30 pairs of shoes'



COUNTING HIS BOOTY: Jeffrey Hillman, who was given a pair of boots by a kindly cop last year, counts his day's haul on the subway Sunday after begging — barefoot — in Midtown.

What a heel!

The barefoot beggar who made headlines when a kindly cop gave him a pair of boots has an apartment and a preacher paying his bills — but he still pretends to be homeless and hides his shoes in a garbage bag, The Post has learned.

Jeffrey Hillman was spotted at 9:20 p.m. Sunday counting a huge wad of bills with the dexterity of a bank teller while riding a No. 2 train from Times Square to his home in The Bronx.
AP
Officer DePrimo's act of kindness made headlines around the world after a passerby snapped this pic on his gift on a frigid winter night.

Wetting his thumb and glancing warily at his few fellow passengers, Hillman, 54, deftly counted out a stack of bills, placed it on the seat and started counting another as a Post reporter shot video.

Just days earlier, the alleged grifter was confronted by another Post reporter on Sixth Avenue in Midtown. Mooching cash from passers-by, he was barefoot and wearing a sign on his back that read “HOMELESS.”

Asked about his boots, he replied, “I choose not to wear shoes” — even though a New Jersey clergyman who has been paying Hillman’s utility bills said the man owns at least 30 pairs.

“I have the shoes. People always ask me where are the shoes? I tell them they’re in the bag,” said Hillman, who apparently wears shoes to and from home but sheds them for his Midtown homeless act.

“I choose not to wear the shoes. Is that a crime? No! My feet haven’t fallen off yet,” the defiant panhandler declared, dragging a large black garbage bag behind him.

Asked about the $100 all-weather boots NYPD Officer Larry DePrimo gave him on Nov. 14 in Times Square, Hillman said he had hidden them away because “they are worth a lot of money.”

Hillman insisted that he never asks anyone for cash or gifts and that people simply fork the money over when they pass him as he trudges barefoot through Midtown.

And he shamelessly admitted he has a place of his own, despite the hand-lettered sign on his back.

“I got my own apartment. I cook for myself,” he said.

On Sunday, Hillman started counting his haul shortly after hopping the subway train in Times Square ,and was still counting as it approached a stop at 152nd Street and Westchester Avenue not far from his apartment on Prospect Avenue in The Bronx.

The cash appeared to be mostly singles — but still added up to several hundred dollars, judging from the size of the pile.

And, despite his lucrative scam, he insisted he wasn’t doing anything wrong.

“I’m not robbing anybody. It’s Wall Street. It’s the people in these buildings,” he said.

But the Rev. John Graf of Bedminster, who pays Hillman’s utility bills and buys him phone cards, said it’s wrong to pull the wool over people’s eyes.

“I don’t want him conning me,” said Graf, who has known Hillman since they were in fourth grade. “He promised me that he wouldn’t do that.”

Graf admitted his buddy has a history of working the streets.

“He’s done it 10-plus years. He can make 1,000 bucks a day” even though “he’s got 30 pairs of shoes at home,” he said.

Hillman — an Army vet and the brother of a college professor and a church administrator — has rap sheets in New York and Pennsylvania that stretch back to the early 1980s.

He was most recently busted in New York City in 2008 for possession of a controlled substance.

He had a similar drug bust in 2003 and a number of charges in 2002 for harassment, menacing, criminal mischief, reckless endangerment, possession of stolen property and resisting arrest.

In 1998, he was pinched for public lewdness after allegedly masturbating in front of a crowd in Hamilton Heights.

DePrimo — who put the boots and socks on Hillman’s feet himself — could not be reached.

[widgeon13]

Nature of the beast today. Why work when you can screw somebody else.

[fastfredracing]

I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather pound mufflers on rusty Caravans in a cold dirty garage in Pa, than panhandle for money, barefoot, in New York city.

[asphaltgambler]

Does not diminish the policeman's act of compassion and generosity. P*sses me off, but I'd rather focus on the positive even if the guy is a scum-bag

[onewhippedpuppy]

There are plenty of stories about beggars that pull down six figures. One of many reasons that I don't give them money.

[herr_oberst]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

I don't know about you guys, but I'd rather pound mufflers on rusty Caravans in a cold dirty garage in Pa, than panhandle for money, barefoot, in New York city.

Right on.

[911SauCy]

Chooot ' em!

[ckelly78z]

I feel like the "Heel" when I walk on by someone like this, while wrestling with my moral obligation to help the needy. Let's just hope that karma finds this guy, and others like him who practice the same mind games.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

I feel like the "Heel" when I walk on by someone like this, while wrestling with my moral obligation to help the needy. Let's just hope that karma finds this guy, and others like him who practice the same mind games.

Any moral obligation to help the needy has nothing whatsoever to do with handing money (or food or even shoes) to panhandlers. Ask the guy if he's willing to do some work for you for $7-10 per hr, even tax free, and I'll be it's a resounding "go eff yourself."

[kach22i]

Figured something like this would eventually turn up.

I don't give to panhandlers either, not since I saw a guy give a bum a $20 right in front of me about 25 years ago.

[Rick Lee]

I've seen bums with cell phones in DC, even one wearing Air Jordans once. They prey on the clueless tourists and idealistic young folks who think they're saving the world.

[scottmandue]

I heard an interview on radio of a person that runs a homeless shelter... they said that worst thing you can do is give beggars money... you are only (I hate this word) enabling their dysfunctional lifestyle and preventing them for getting real help. (yeah, I know, many of them don't want help).

I admit to giving a buck to a really pathetic looking homeless person occasionally... if you are wearing $100 tennis shoes or look like a drug addict, no way.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I heard an interview on radio of a person that runs a homeless shelter... they said that worst thing you can do is give beggars money... you are only (I hate this word) enabling their dysfunctional lifestyle and preventing them for getting real help. (yeah, I know, many of them don't want help).

Absolutely correct. I had to volunteer in a soup kitchen in the worst part of Trenton when I was about 14. I knew absolutely nothing about the ways of the world then. Those bums were hitting me up for $.25 or $.50 all day long. And I had it to give, but didn't. I asked one of the nuns what to do and she said not to even think about it, that all they needed was food and shelter, we were already providing them that and that anything I gave them would immediately go to cigarettes, booze or worse. I was stunned at the time.

[HardDrive]

I'm in India at the moment. American beggars are rich compared to the poor in India.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

I'm in India at the moment. American beggars are rich compared to the poor in India.

Also very true. I've seen beggars in China that made Slumdog Millionaire look Rated G.

[Chocaholic]

And while Rev. Graf knows the whole story, he keeps paying his utilitty bills for him and providing a phone card? Something not adding up.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Does not diminish the policeman's act of compassion and generosity. P*sses me off, but I'd rather focus on the positive even if the guy is a scum-bag

Exactly. That the guy is a con and a jerk-off has no effect on the cop's kind act.

[widebody911]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

I heard an interview on radio of a person that runs a homeless shelter... they said that worst thing you can do is give beggars money... you are only (I hate this word) enabling their dysfunctional lifestyle and preventing them for getting real help.

This.

First and foremost, we need to start calling them "beggars" and not "homeless" - a lot of these guys actually do have homes and are not bad off. I see young kids (early 20's or so) working the off-ramps around here; I saw a chick the other day with lots of tats, big hoop earrings, a pit bull, wearing daisy duke shorts and a tight little tank top. I can almost guarantee she's not homeless.

My wife was the director of a drug treatment clinic for a few years; she had patients who were professional beggars with stacks of cash to pay for their methadone when they couldn't score whatever it was they really wanted.

[RWebb]

dunno about 6 figures, but a TV reporter here dressed as a homeless guy (including makeup on his face) and tried begging for a day - he said he made min. wage easily

I suggest that your charity go to a group that feeds the homeless or houses them, not directly to someone who may use the $$ for drugs.

[Rick Lee]

Originally Posted by RWebb

dunno about 6 figures, but a TV reporter here dressed as a homeless guy (including makeup on his face) and tried begging for a day - he said he made min. wage easily

That's only because our beggars don't look like poor people to much of the rest of the world. Take that legless kid from China, let him drag himself on his bloody stubs, pushing a coffee can with his nose anywhere in the US, and he would collect six figures. You gotta put some beg into it.