“Volusia County authorities say a homeless man used a stolen credit card to get himself a pedicure.
Jonah Lee Troutman, 27, was arrested last Saturday and charged with illegal use of a credit card and petty theft.”
Tampa.CBSLocal.Com
The conventional wisdom is that the homeless population is made up of decent people who find themselves in their predicament as a consequence of bad fortune.
In these hard economic times a lot of hardworking and taxpaying citizens are only a couple of missed paychecks away from homelessness, but a good chunk of the homeless have no interest in finding a job or becoming productive members of society. Getting a meal is as easy as begging for a few minutes, or patronizing one of the dozens of rescue missions and church kitchens that cater to the homeless.
Case in point: Troutman claims that he found a credit card, and he used it not to buy groceries, but to get a pedicure. I am older than dirt, and have worked since I was 18, and I have never had a pedicure in my life.
The credit card was declined, and when the police arrived Troutman explained: Finding the credit card was a blessing from God.
Whether this clown is in jail or out in the streets, he will be a burden on society for the rest of his life. If God is really in the blessing business, He would bless taxpayers and smite Troutman stone cold dead.
http://tampa.cbslocal.com/2011/12/14/cops-homeless-man-used-stolen-credit-card-to-pay-for-pedicure/
Follow Robert Paul Reyes on Twitter: http://twitter.com/robertpaulreyes
Popularity: 2% [?]
I think a lot of these cases also have to do with mental issues. It would be hard to believe that anyone who is homeless would put a pedicure at the top of their list unless something was wrong. Substance abuse is often a big factor too, but if that was the case he probably would have tried to use the card at a liquor or convenient store. Or perhaps he already did and knew it would not go through, so he found something that would provide the service before having to pay.