This terrible secret shocked the community.
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A beggar who has to survive day in and day out on the goodness of other people turns out to have a lot to hide. By chance, a local resident discovers the dark circumstances in which the woman lives.
What started with a good deed ends with a very dark discovery. Read more on the next page!
The beggar
It was an ordinary afternoon in San Diego, California. Michelle was loading her groceries. The parking lot of her local supermarket was full of cars, limiting visibility. Michelle didn’t like this at all and started packing her trunk more and more frantically. Still, she wasn’t fast enough to avoid the most annoying part of her weekly shopping trip: the beggar.
As Michelle turned around and got ready to use her standard blow-off phrase, she saw something that shut her up…
A little shock
Much to her surprise, the beggar had a baby in her arms. With wide eyes, both mother and child looked at Michelle, who this time could not escape a good deed. Completely stunned, Michelle pulled out her wallet and gave the beggar a $10 bill. She thanked Michelle with an unintelligible grunt and an uncertain smile. After this encounter, Michelle decided she had been too biased. From then on out she would always give the beggar some small change. She must have been having a really hard time on the street with a baby.
Michelle had a lot of compassion for the beggar. That is why she was very shocked by what she saw the following week…
The week after
A week after discovering that the beggar had a small child, Michelle came face to face with the poor woman again. Again, Michelle pulled out her wallet and again the woman thanked her with a small smile. Michelle noticed now that the beggar wasn’t looking at her and didn’t know how quickly she had to get away. Michelle threw it in shame and waved it further away.
But what she saw then set alarm bells off for her…
Disappointment
Michelle was still half lost in thought as she followed the beggar with her eyes across the parking lot. It wasn’t very busy today, so she saw exactly where she was going. She begged without success from 3 other people, before deciding that there was nothing more to get at this supermarket. Disappointed, she dropped off.
But what happened next, Michelle never expected!
Homeless
The homeless woman wasn’t just begging at the supermarket. Other residents indicated that she could often be found at the local park, after which she went to the East Lake Village Center. This is a shopping center with restaurants, supermarkets, salons, dentists, florists, clothing stores and much more. This is a place where people come to spend money.
Perfect for the beggar who desperately needed money. But she never expected that someone would be watching her like this…
Michelle
Michelle felt very sorry for the beggar and her daughter. Her maternal instinct made her seem to look beyond poverty, into the heart of the homeless woman. This was also a flesh and blood human being, with all the emotions that go with it. She could really use the money in Michelle’s wallet.
Her empathy caused Michelle to be very shocked when she saw what the beggar did after she took the loot…
The loot
The homeless woman had been regularly found at the supermarket for months. Besides Michelle, there were a number of other people who couldn’t bring themselves to tell her no. In addition to change, she sometimes also received a sandwich or a bottle of soft drink, for which she was very grateful. Her bag was full of baby food, all donated by local residents.
She could have done worse! Yet there was something that made her situation inhumane…
Shelter
Since the woman was homeless, she had to be creative to find places to sleep. Although Michelle had never seen the woman at night, her imagination ran wild. The woman would probably spend the night on a park bench, or in the porch of a store. And the baby would lie next to her, in all weathers. How awful. No one deserves that.
Would the beggar and her baby really sleep in such inhospitable conditions? Or did she have something to hide? After all, Michelle had never seen her at night…
Professional
There were rumors that the beggar wasn’t really as bad as she made it out to be. Child Protective Services would never let this happen, would they? And the beggar was very good at what she did. She always managed to get money or food from a few people. The baby actually suited her very well. That way she could arouse a lot of pity.
Michelle was disgusted by the cynical looks from her neighbors. No one knew the woman’s real story. If they had known this, they probably wouldn’t have been so biased!
The mysterious car
Michelle watched the beggar as she walked away from the grocery store. Hopefully she now had enough money to arrange a decent place to sleep for her and her baby. Out of nowhere, a black car drove up to the homeless woman. The car stopped with the passenger side right next to the homeless woman, who was clearly very startled.
The car door was slammed open and the beggar girl glanced at Michelle. The fear on her face was unmistakable…
What was going on?
The black car wasn’t just any car… It was a brand new, spotless Mercedes Benz. What was she to do with the beggar? And why was she so shocked? Michelle grabbed her phone and kept a close eye on the incident unfolding before her eyes.
A mystery
Many questions ran through Michelle’s head: who was the driver? Was the woman in trouble? Did they know each other? It didn’t sit right with her. Something wasn’t right here. Michelle was determined to help the woman.
Little did she know that what she was going to do next would make all the papers…
The pursuit
To Michelle’s shock, the beggar got into the black Mercedes. Before Michelle caught a glimpse of the driver, the car left the parking lot with screeching tires. Without thinking, Michelle tossed her groceries in the trunk, ran around the car, jumped behind the wheel and started the pursuit.
What she would discover would shake the entire community!
On the road
Michelle had little trouble keeping up with the Mercedes. It was not very busy on the road at this time. She had enough time to take a good look at the car. It looked brand new, like it just rolled out of a showroom.
She decides to record her pursuit with her phone’s camera.
At the traffic light
After a long drive, the black Mercedes comes to a stop at a traffic light. Michelle seizes this opportunity with both hands and parks her car next to the mysterious vehicle. The first thing she notices is that the baby is in the back seat, with no belt or seat. Michelle’s maternal instincts kick in and she’s about to call the police.
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Until she sees what is happening in the front of the car…
The partners-in-crime
In amazement, Michelle watches as the beggar woman sits on the passenger seat, smiling broadly. Next to her is a man, who laughs cheerfully with her. In his hands he has dollar bills, which he counts carefully.
Then the light turns green and the Mercedes races off again. They haven’t seen Michelle, who now continues the pursuit in anger…
The method
The pursuit comes to an end at another shopping center. They park the car out of sight and the beggar gets out. She takes the baby in her arms again and the smile disappears. She walks the last bit and then speaks to someone almost immediately. Whoops! The first money appears again. And just as quickly as it appeared, the note disappears back into the woman’s pocket.
Michelle watches in amazement. She has no idea what awaits her…
Caught
Michelle is fuming. As the adrenaline surges through her body, she records the entire event on her phone. She takes pictures of the woman and her baby, but also of the black car and the people whose money she is taking. Until the beggar’s eye falls on Michelle and suddenly furiously rushes at her. The homeless woman picks up a rock from the ground and throws it at Michelle. The man gets out of the car and walks over to Michelle while screaming. Fortunately, a bystander calls the police. When the man sees this, he shouts something to the beggar. They run to the car and take off in a hurry.
But Michelle isn’t planning to give up that easily…
Social Media
At home, she uploads the photos and videos she has taken of the couple. She posts it on her social media pages. She decides to contact a local news station as well. She needs to warn her neighbors about these scammers before they extort more people’s money.
Suddenly things are moving…
News channel
The news channel appears to be very interested in this sensational story. They call Michelle to see if there is any more to get out of it. Thanks to the photos and videos that Michelle sends them, they manage to find the license plate of the car. This turns out to be in the name of a woman.
This is just the beginning of the story that turns out to be behind this…
More interest
After this first news channel, other media also pick up on it. Journalists from TV, radio and the newspaper contact Michelle for an interview. One of these parties also managed to find the woman’s address. She doesn’t seem to be homeless at all. This secret spreads like wildfire and the journalists decide to pay a visit to this address.
What they discover there, no one expected…
The address
Unfortunately, the address turned out to be deserted. The story had already gained quite a bit of fame, so there’s a good chance that the beggar and her accomplice had decided to move quickly. Journalists hung around the house for days, but no sign of the scamming couple.
Things seemed to come to a standstill, until something incredible happened…
Going viral
Meanwhile, Michelle’s social media posts also received a lot of attention. The number of comments ran into the thousands and many people around her shared the messages in their network. The posts went viral, allowing a very large group of people to see the footage. The reactions did not lie: people were furious. They felt cheated.
The success of these social media posts led to a breakthrough…
Phone call
One day, one of the journalists involved receives a call from a young woman named Rebecca. Rebecca had seen the beggar’s photos on social media and said she recognized her. She passed on the scammer’s location and the reporter went straight for it.
The journalist, named Emily Valdez, wanted to catch her in the act…
On location
When Valdez reached the address Rebecca had provided, it turned out to be another mall. She and her cameraman flew through the shopping center in search of the beggar. She saw several women with babies, but she did not find her target yet.
When she finally found the woman, Valdez immediately confronted the beggar with the evidence. Talk yourself out of that!
The confrontation
“Is this you in this video!?” Valdez asked with her microphone in front of the woman’s face. She looked expectantly at the beggar. This one looked confused from the video at Valdez. “I don’t speak English,” she managed to say. The baby started to cry.
The beggar turned and tried quickly to escape attention. Valdez followed her, then suddenly found himself face to face with the beggar’s companion.
The man
“Keep filming! Don’t stop filming!’, Valdez wasn’t about to let this story slip through her fingers. She was willing to do anything for a good story. The man tried to push her and her cameraman away as they flee towards their car, but the reporter did not give up. They followed the duo and the baby around the corner but couldn’t stop them. The crooks escaped.
When they looked at the footage back at the office, they discovered something very special…
Clues
The mystery man had yelled at the woman in a language that Valdez and her cameraman did not recognize. This was recorded word for word, but unfortunately they couldn’t melt it into chocolate. Still, they were willing to do whatever it takes to find out what language this was.
Valdez went looking for a translator. And a good thing, because the man’s words later turned out to reveal the truth…
Help
Leslie Albright, a retired detective, came across Valdez’s call and didn’t know how quickly to pick up the phone. After 25 years as a detective, Leslie was a specialist in this type of investigation.
Leslie was sure he’d heard the language before. He realized that the woman was no ordinary beggar, and that this story was darker than they had ever imagined…
Discovered secrets
Leslie had devoted his career to catching criminals. Over the years, he had seen many things pass by. The language the mystery man spoke immediately made him think of an unsolved case.
When he saw the footage of Valdez, he almost immediately recognized that the man was speaking Romani and that they didn't feel like talking to the press. What else was this couple hiding?
Scammers
Leslie realized that the duo were part of an organized crime ring that had been under scrutiny for years. These criminals had illegally entered the United States and started their scam immediately upon arrival. Members of this group lived in cheap apartments but drove expensive cars. They were often on the road so they could scam as many people as possible.
But there was a reason they had never been caught…
Escaped
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What the man yelled to the woman when Valdez was after them? Loosely translated, this turned out to be ‘Leave that kid and RUN!’ The child, who later turned out to be an abducted American baby, was found on the side of the road. Fortunately, the little one was okay.
The couple was nowhere to be found. They are probably making new victims at a different location right now. If you see the woman, the man and the black Mercedes, watch your wallet.
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