Homeless Man Charged Tourists For Free Parking

[matcom]

<snip>

DESTIN, Fla. -- A homeless man is facing a possible prison term for allegedly charging tourists $5 to park in a free lot during the busy Memorial Day weekend.

Bruce Lee Thompson, 57, was held Monday at the Okaloosa County jail in Crestview on $2,000 bail. He has a July 19 court date on charges of obtaining property by impersonation, theft and a licensing violation. If convicted, penalties could range from probation to more than five years in prison.

The unemployed man set up a sign advertising "party parking," according to his arrest report.

"It's totally ridiculous," said Beverly Canady of The Finishing Touch, a store in the small shopping center where Thompson put up his sign. "We don't mind people parking here, but you just don't come literally off the street and charge people to park."

Canady said the center has an unspoken agreement that customers of a nearby restaurant can use the lot at night. She said she pulled beside Thompson on the night of May 28 to ask him what was going on.

"He said he watched the parking lot fill up the night before and said it looked like a good way to make money," Canady said.

A deputy told Thompson to stop but caught him collecting a parking fee an hour later, the report said.

Jail records did not indicate whether Thompson had a lawyer. The Public Defender's Office has a policy against commenting on pending cases.

http://www.wftv.com/irresistible/4574007/detail.html

[Don Claybrook]

1. I thought we were supposed to reward entreprenerialism

He pulled an Enron, writ very small. And now he's facing a possible prison sentence. hmmm.

[Iris]

3. jinx!

[Iris]

2. Isn't entrepreneurship supposed to be rewarded in these

Republican driven times?

[billyskank]

8. Wrong size.

If he'd managed to make a billion dollars then he could have donated a million to the Republican party and he'd have no problem. He thought too small, and forgot that Republicans hate the small businessman.

[Iris]

9. yet many small businessmen LOVE Republicans.

[billyskank]

11. Well, I guess it just doesn't have to make sense.

Must be awesome marketing on the part of the Republicans. :shrug:

[lies and propaganda]

4. I quite enjoy this...

If it werent him, it would be some huge corporation owning lots throughout Florida/The States making bank.

Blows for him that he lives in one of our worst states and hes going to jail for something this minor. But Jebbies daughter can write all the fake scripts and ingest all the meds she wants, cause its an affliction for her.

[2Design]

5. well now he will have housing, meals, and medical help = win

for guy - if this is the only way for affordable housing and health care - many more will be doing this

[RedCloud]

6. The headline should be different. "BLT going to jail."

Just think of all those BLT lovers who will be outraged when they read this because there is no BLT to eat and someone (BLT) is going to jail."

Bruce Lee Thompson

Or it could have been "Homeless Bruce Lee clapped in irons" Then all the karate lovers would get outraged...

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. *sigh*

I guess it's only appropriate for rich people to cheat the public. ;)

How many more days than Ken Lay will this man serve?

[Scout1071]

10. I think it's kind of funny. I'd rather he cook up some small con like

this than stand around on the street and beg for money. If I owned or worked in the lot, I'd be pretty irritated and I'd definitely tell him to get lost. Having said that, I can appreciate the effort!

[underpants]

12. Sounds like a toll booth in Downtown Richmond

There is a 10 cent toll both to get onto I95-no arm or even a booth it is (was) pretty much on an honor system. A friend of mine used to work in a highrise that looked over it and everyone in the office knew about the homeless guy and the toll booth.

This guy would stuff a sock or a rag into the hole and then go about 10 feet down the hill and go to sleep. At some point during the day he would get up (you could only see from way up high in the building) collect the dimes and go off to get whatever he wanted to get.

That was a few years ago I wonder if he still does it.