Published: 2013 February 28 06:42:49 (5151 Views)

Gary Thompson, a wheelchair-bound man in Lexington, US, makes up to $100,000 a year faking mental illness and begging from unwitting good Samaritans.

He has difficulty walking but is otherwise in fine physical and mentally.

“I appreciate you guys busting me,” he told the TV station with a big smile and laugh. “I’m really good at it, really good.”

“I don’t make that much money,” said Judy McKinney, who told WLEX TV that Thompson wheeled in front of her stopped car. “But, I mean, I reached into my pocket, I gave him every penny I had. It was $6 at that time.

McKinney, the victim, said “I actually thought he was a handicapped person and I actually thought I was doing a good deed.”

Originally from Austin, Texas, the 30-year-old did lose mobility after a car crash 20 years ago.

His mother sued Honda and earned a $2.5 million settlement, money Thompson admits is long gone.

He’s gone from Austin to Lexington, where he wheels around the southern city and hopes people with good hearts will feel for him.

He says he has a degree is speech pathology, a skill Thompson uses to deceive his marks.

“I am normal,” he said. “It just helps to be handicapped.”

“I gotta go, y’all, I gotta make some money,” Thompson told WLEX.

The station caught up with Thompson minutes after the Lexington police held a press conference warning residents of his routine.

He’s been arrested twice in 2013 for panhandling but told the station he has no intention to leave the city anytime soon.

“Hey, I’m the best in Lex, the best in Lex baby,” the bogus beggar boasted after he was caught him trying yet another mark.

- NYDailynews

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