When we see distress and poverty around us, it breaks our heart. In any way possible we wish to help the needy. Either we empathize with them or we donate clothes and foodstuff to the hungry and poor. And the thing which we most often do is help them financially.
A woman in San Diego comes across a strange sight. She finds a pregnant woman begging out on streets along with a little boy. Initially, her heart melts and she feels for her. But what she witnesses next takes her on an unexpected mysterious journey.
A Suspicion
She was closely observing a woman. She scratched her mind to find a clue to it. She knew something was strange. Something suspicious-but what. She had been keeping tabs on her for days and couldn’t come up with a reason to suspect. And then she finds her hopping in a car. That was it. She decided to follow her unaware of the fact that her footsteps were approaching the drastic.
Spotted Again
Melissa Smith is a resident from San Diego, California. She was on her usual route to work. On her way, she often spotted a lot of panhandlers and there was nothing new about it. That day the only thing which bothered her was a particular beggar who was a woman and that too a pregnant woman. If it was a part of her daily routine, then what was so peculiar about this sight?
Need For Investigation
The pregnant panhandler seemed to be in her third trimester and she even had her little son along. She would reserve a particular spot in the street daily. That day Melissa somehow had some strange intuitions about that woman. She immediately decides to follow her intuition when she saw the beggar and her son leaving the area. The next sight made her call for help.
Apt Place
The place where Smith often found this woman was the East Lake Village Centre. It was a shopping hub where one could find all sort of stores ranging right from food stores, grocery shops, wardrobe fits, and hair stylists. It was the place visited by affluent people which meant the panhandler could fetch a great amount of money from the people who visited this place.
Caught
California often saw beggars and other vagrants out on street. Smith though suspected this woman, but immediately disregarded her intuition. She initially felt uneasy about this begging woman, but when Smith realized that the female panhandler could be seen daily over there she was certain that begging is the lady’s true identity. Soon only, Smith wished that she should have trusted her intuition.
Sympathetic
Smith gave over her negative thoughts and felt sympathetic about the pregnant lady. She felt sorry and pity towards her. Her poor condition makes Smith question her own thoughts. She felt bad that she was suspecting a woman who is already going through a miserable phase. Smith says,” She was expecting a child and had a little boy next to her. Those poor souls needed help”. Who knew that something was definitely not right.
Catching Eyes
The pregnant beggar would be out on streets in the daytime, struggling under the scorching heat. Usually, her son would accompany her, yet there were days when one could find her husband standing next to her. The begging couple garnered much attention as it is not often that one comes across a pregnant woman begging.
Heartstrings
This not so usual sight attracted a lot of couples and they would all stand by her to help her out. They would provide the lady with more than required and what else could they do to help the suffering souls. None could have even thought about the possibilities this panhandler was hiding which made Smith this curious. Was she an impostor?
Something Happened
Smith had been observing this suspicious woman for over two months now. She did not question the expecting lady’s acts until the day. her heart sank every time she saw the pregnant woman begging under the burning sun. But that day an extremely different side of the woman came across Smith and she knew that it was time for her to investigate this panhandler.
A Mastery
The questionable pregnant woman appeared to have been a master in the field of begging. It won’t be wrong to call her the master of this art. She always had a pity face and carried her little boy along as a means to gain sympathy from people. Not only that she also had a cardboard banner reading “Please Help”. People who crossed her emptied their wallets instantly to help her. Smith never thought that this wasn’t the only thing the woman did. Things were much bigger than this.
Low On Gas
Smith’s car was running low on gas. She stops by a gas station close to the center. Then only she finds the pregnant panhandler crossing the street. Smith thought that being out on the streets for long must have made her tired, but Smith’s eye sees a car approaching the woman. Next what she saw completely left Smith baffled.
Arousing Curiosity
What Smith finds next is that a speeding car drives towards the pregnant woman. And it then stops in front of that lady and she makes a move inside it. This made Smith curious. She hides behind the gas station and tries to have a closer look at the entire scene. Now, it was time for Smith to step into Sherlock’s shoes…
A Mercedes Benz
Initially, Smith repudiated what her eyes saw. But when she witnessed the man in the car, everything became clear. The car which stopped near the panhandler was nothing less than a luxurious Mercedes Benz that too being driven by the pregnant lady’s husband. How did the duo afford a car which was a luxurious one? Did they steal it or something?
Counting And Laughing
Smith immediately takes her car and follows the couple. She also uses her cell phone to capture whatever she witnessed. Smith finds that the couple is counting the amount of money they have possibly fooled out of people. They were laughing while counting the currency. Smith felt that the duo has been betraying the people around and thus needs to be reported. Little did Smith know that this was just the beginning of the mysterious case.
Caught Red Handed
The Mercedes Benz stops near another shopping center. What Smith found next was more shocking. The pregnant lady and her son step out of the car and now go and stand in the shopping center’s premises. The lady again held that same board and people out of pity start giving her money, while her husband parks the car in one corner of the street and watches his wife put up the show. Smith was cluless about the depth of the case and things were more sinister than they appeared.
Enraged
To present the police with a proof, Smith starts taking pictures of the woman and her son. Unfortunately, the pregnant panhandler caught Smith doing so. The pretending-beggar starts shouting at Smith and even picks up a big rock lying next to her on the street and points towards her. This action of the woman further increased Smith’s suspicion manifold.
Is This Possible?
Every woman is aware that during the pregnancy phase they aren’t supposed to move and bend much. And picking up heavy weights is an even bigger No. Smith says, “I don’t know if pregnant people can do that, but it was pretty big over her head and coming at me with this rock.” This at some point made the beggar’s pregnancy a question, but then it would be too much to think something like that.
Headlines
An onlooker saw the woman trying to harm Smith and immediately informs the cop. The pregnant beggar was frightened and she immediately takes her son along and clears that space. What Smith did next made headlines and something hidden caught everyone’s eyes.
Search Begins
Smith then informs the news channels about it and even the cops look into the matter. They trace the car number from the pictures clicked by Smith and found out that the car was registered under the woman’s name. Not only this but they were also taken to the address which wasn’t disclosed yet.
Chasing
The address which the news channels found was of Encinitas Heights Apartments. It was situated in a posh locality. Even the rent which the people paid to reside there was some $2500. Smith had no clue that there were other people as well who had suspected this pregnant panhandler and had their eyes on her.
A Phone Call
To reach to the depths of this unsolved mystery, the journalists visited the address they found. Surprisingly after knocking at the door for several times, none responded. And then they receive a phone call saying that a new couple has moved into this apartment and the previous ones left recently.
Another Witness
As the news about this fraud pregnant beggar was already viral, people were responding towards it. Then only another witness Rebecca calls the news station and informs them that she saw the same beggar outside a shopping complex. When the reporters reached that spot, they were perplexed.
Unbelievable
Emily Valdez, a news reporter immediately arrives at the location as informed by Rebecca. She starts looking for the pregnant beggar around. After much search, she finds a lady who looked similar to the suspect, but there was something strange about this one. Emily whispers to herself, “unbelievable”.
A Baby
Valdez could not believe what she saw. The lady that was supposed to be pregnant, was holding a baby in her hand. Just a few days ago, Smith had uploaded the pictures of this pregnant panhandler and suddenly in two days, one finds her holding a baby was a strange sight. The investigation took to another level.
Is This You?
The reporter approached the woman and showing her the picture of the pregnant beggar, questions her, “Is this you, begging?” The woman in another language said she did not know the English language. However, Valdez saw that she also had a little boy with her who was similar to that of the beggar’s son.
Resembled
When Valdez was questioning the woman, her husband appears at the spot and disregarded the cameras and just left immediately with his family. Being media personnel, Valdez and her crew members had another plan as well. They switched on the Face recognition app and the results said that the woman Valdez saw now is 80% match with the pregnant panhandler.
Finding Links
The journalist was quite an alert one. She immediately pinpoints that the husband first spoke in Spanish but then mumbled something to her wife in a different language. Valdez replays the recording to make sure of what she was thinking. And that was the clue that will crack the whole case wide open.
Calling Experts
Valdez then thought to involve the experts with the case. She asks Leslie Albright to help them solve the case of this pregnant panhandler. Albright was a detective at the San Diego Police Department and had recently only retired from her duty. She was the best person to be approached for help.
No Ordinary Case
Albright had been in the investigation department for the last 25 years. She thus was an experienced one. Even after retiring when she heard about this case, she readily agreed to come forward. She knew that it wasn’t an ordinary case and the panhandler was a master planner. She herself wanted to reach to the root of this case.
A Scam
As Albright steps into the news studio to investigate this case, Valdez was sure that now the panhandler who has attracted a million eyes on social media would now have her scam exposed very soon. While going through the entire media report and recordings taken as evidence, Albright saw an incident that indicated there was a lot more to this story.
It’s Her
Albright’s experience was the thing which came handy in this case. The moment she heard the recording twice, she confirmed that the husband spoke in two different languages. Moreover, the face recognition proved to be known as quite true. Albright says it was more or less sure that both the ladies been captured are the same ones. Albright even highlighted something unimaginable about this begging family.
Clean Bowled
After reviewing other begging scams in California, Albright figured out that this panhandler couple is tied to a massive and organized begging ring in California. They along with the other members of their ring illegally made it to this city and have been committing burglary and other begging incidents on a regular basis to make money. Not only this, but this panhandling family is not a family either.
Not A Couple
The always seen together, pregnant woman, her husband, and their little son were not actually even a family. The members of this ring act as a family and reside in luxury apartments in order to escape all the suspicious eyes. Moreover, there were probabilities that the lady was using her “pregnancy” to make more money by sympathy.
Packers And Movers
Such kind of groups don’t stay in a single place for long and therefore it gets tough for any investigating authority to catch hold of these. As and when they find that someone is probing into their acts, they just pack their stuff and move into another place. This particular couple was also doing the same when one anonymous man brought the couple to notice.
Dark Reality
A man who knew this couple when saw this news report comes forward and reveal some harsh secrets about them. He posts on the web that he knew the couple through some mutual friends, and they are just like any other con artists. Moreover, their individual families too found their way in the country.
Poor Girl
The pregnant panhandler had a tough life. She never wanted to do this but was forced to work with this beggars ring. She had been doing it since a very young age. Once the man shared all this information, he hid his identity in the fear of being caught and harmed by the ring.
Not Pregnant
Soon it was discovered that the woman seen on streets with a baby bump was actually not even pregnant. Rather she used a foam prop under her clothing to act like one as it helped her fetch more money than usual. This act of hers provided her some $500 on a daily basis. But this was only a part of their resultant lavish life.
Using Babies
Such a ring of beggars uses children as ways to get more money. People have a soft corner for children and these rings take advantage of that. Women and children together are able to beg and make more money than a man begging. These children don’t go to school but wander on roads begging. That is really sad to hear.
Looking For Them
The San Deigo police officials have been looking for this family and are sure to find the entire ring of these beggars. They are on their duty to ensure the safety of its people. Once this family is caught, the whole organization will be caught in a single go.
Be Cautious
The police officials and the media reporters thank Smith for bringing into everyone’s notice this panhandler. They at the same time ask all other citizens to be cautious of their surroundings and inform the right authorities in case they suspect anything mysterious. It is always better to take precautions. And stay Alert.