The appeal tugged at the heart:
A white poster, featuring a photograph of a sad-eyed boy, read, “Funeral – Alex 10-years died in-a-car accident — God-bless.”
The emotional appeal for donations, apparently made by two people at Sanderson and Stetson avenues in Hemet on Sunday, Feb. 23, also tugged on some people’s wallets.
The pair had collected $195 as of noon that day from passers-by, Hemet Capt. Mike Mouat said.
But the solicitation ended with the panhandlers handcuffed in the back of a patrol car after police determined the photograph of Alex was actually printed from a website in Romania that reported the disappearance of a little boy there in 2011.
“The news article stated the child was missing for a day and found at a local park, not involved in a traffic collision causing his death,” Hemet police said in a news release.
Motorists had called 911 to report the pair walking in and out of traffic, prohibited by a municipal law.
City surveillance cameras recorded them getting in a car and leaving.
Police found the car and pulled it over on suspicion of violating a Vehicle Code, police spokeswoman Judith Gibson said, adding she didn’t know the specific vehicular offense.
Police questioned the suspects, a 38-year-old woman and a 29-year-old man with the same last name, and said the pair could not agree on who the boy was, or where he had died.
The two were booked into jail on suspicion of theft by false pretenses, conspiracy and, for panhandling, disorderly conduct. They posted $5,000 bail each and were released, county jail records show; they are scheduled to appear in court in May.
Gibson said the alleged ruse is common in Hemet, and Officer Ryan Railsback, a Riverside Police Department spokesman, said solicitations under false pretenses are often conducted by the same people who move from city to city. Railsback said most are European travelers who refer to themselves as “gypsies.”
Police reveal a scheme by asking the local coroner’s office whether there is any record of a death of someone who could be the child pictured on the poster. Police also run Google-image searches to determine whether the photo was printed from an old webpage.
Potential donors are better off holding onto their money when they see such panhandlers, Railsback said.
“You could have some that are legit,” he said. “Probably 75% of the time they are not. More than likely, it is a scam.”
As for the seized $195, if there’s a conviction, the DA’s Office could decide how the money will be used, perhaps to support victims. Anyone who donated to solicitors convicted of theft by false pretenses would have to file a police report to potentially recover their money, Gibson said.
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