Breaking News: Some Panhandlers Are Faking It!

Where's my garmonbozia?

File this under why-we-can't-trust-anyone-anymore: the Post sinks its teeth into the tragic story of panhandler Robert McMahon, the one-armed Vietnam vet who can be seen hobbling for change along Ocean Parkway in his combat fatigues. Except that he's not really a Vietnam vet. And he has both of his arms.

A Post photographer snapped a shot of McMahon with both arms out after a day of begging for change, and they were pissed at the scam: "he carries on with his wounded-soldier act, day after day, weaving through traffic and occasionally cursing out people who refuse to give." They discovered that there's no record of him in the Marines or in Vietnam, and he has a rap sheet of 20 arrests, many for disorderly conduct and "fraudulent accosting" (aka, being a scammer). "He's been doing the fake-arm thing for at least 20 years. He's crazy as a bat. Everyone around here knows about it," said Robert Gainey, a vet who did two tours in Vietnam.

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By Ben Yakas in News on October 10, 2010 5:41 PM

Comments [rss]

MAK82

I've seen this guy before. He smells fake right from the get-go. It IS a shame that he fakes a missing arm and dress in fatigues to try to get sympathy. Its a disgrace to our true heroes and veterans.

Reflect

With how shady the human race has become if you have to- i say fake it till u make it.

Its not like this place is a compassionate fair and balanced society,

So some people cant function going after a being a doctor for status sake..

Should we all shoot them? Sounds like u already did! Just in the wallet that is..

rcltrh

Just saw a man in a wheelchair last night begging for money with an amputee sign on his chair and the word veteran scribbled on the cardboard by the KMart at MSG. However, he was sitting on his "missing" leg - his shoe was even sticking out under his butt.

random transplant

OMG does this mean the Post is down with issues-centered, individual perspective reporting?

Are they giving a voice to the thousands and thousands of homeless people who sap our resources like never before in history?

oh, whoops, wait...their just grumpy because they got scammed out of pocket change. No real story here. Carry on, business as usual.

farkas

Seriously, who edits this website? This is not the first time I've seen incorrect use of "it's" on Gothamist.

Eugene

Can we please have some sort of registration filtering, like those CAPTCHAs that have the registrant solve a simple math problem? Come to think of it, if said filtering could be enforced retroactively…

Brooklyn Book Worm

Gee whiz, maybe the POST will soon discover that the sun rises in the East. I have always assumed that all panhandlers are con artists.

My favorite experience: one night on the "A" train, three panhandlers passed through my car in succession. Each one repeated, verbatim(!) the same sad tale of a veteran fallen on hard times. A grandmotherly woman sat opposite me, reading her Bible. She gave the first guy a dollar and the second a quarter. The third she ignored.

justthinkin

Just putting a global perspective on the situation

http://tinyurl.com/yggazb4

youngpro

ugh, ed hardy...

and wtf is 'timbland'? 'chanal'? TRULY rip-offs.

aydiosmio

Billy Ray Valentine approves.

John L

Three cheers for NYPost's investigative reporting.

I wonder if they'll get a Pulitzer Prize for this groundbreaking work?

If only they'd do such exhaustive investigations on someone that actually mattered.

The guy asks for money and lies about his past to get more sympathy and money. Sounds like a lot of politicians around here.