There's a panhandler in the Clerico Park area preying on charity.
Be careful.
His sob story of a broken down vehicle is bogus.
Amy Taylor and her family almost fell for it. "My biggest worry was that I had turned away someone in need."
Greenwood Police Chief Henry Harris wouldn't return repeated calls for comment. He declined to see reporters when they visited headquarters with questions about the panhandler.
Last Thursday, someone knocked on their door on West Barton Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Taylor's husband, David, answered. A middle-aged man wearing blue jean shorts, glasses and sandy colored hair was on the doorstep. "He looks you can could believe him," Taylor said. Her children also saw an older woman smoking a cigarette and waiting on the street.
The man told David Taylor his car had run out of gas, and he needed some cash to get back to Winona. Taylor stalled and quizzed him to test his story. The man was persistent.
Her husband went upstairs to look for some money. Five minutes passed. When he came back down the stairs, the man had left, said Taylor.
Her conscience pestered her until a neighbor called. Now she knows of seven houses in the area that have been hit. They've called police, but there's not much they can do. Panhandling isn't a crime, but trespassing is. The only catch is that you have to hold him until police arrive, Taylor said.
James Green, a basketball coach at Mississippi Valley State University, lives nearby. News of the intruder has persuaded him to lock his doors while at home, something he's never done before.
He's watching out for the women who stay at home during the day. "That's just the way this neighborhood is."
