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Homeless Man in NYPD Photo Might Not Actually Be Homeless

Dec. 4, 2012 5:55pm Liz Klimas

News about a homeless man receiving boots from an NYPD officer as captured in a touching photo by a tourist in New York City continues to emerge. The latest suggests he isn’t technically homeless after all.

Homeless Man Jeff Hillman Receiving Shoes in Viral NYPD Photo Found to Have a Bronx Apartment

A homeless man later identified as Jeff Hillman has been found after receiving a gift of new shoes not wearing the shoes and with an apartment in the Bronx. (Photo: NYPD Facebook)

TheBlaze first reported about the photo last week. On Monday, the man had been identified as Jeffrey Hillman, and although grateful for the gift, he was not wearing the shoes because he feared for his safety due to their expense. Not only that but he was asking for his “piece of the pie” due to the fame the photo had gotten without his permission.

The New York Daily News on Tuesday reported it found out that Hillman has an apartment in the Bronx, which is paid through federal assistance. As the Daily News puts it, “The revelation that Hillman has a warm home and a bed to sleep in further complicated what at first seemed like a perfect feel-good tale for the holidays.”

It reported Barbara Brancaccio, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Homeless Services, saying he “has a history of turning down services.”

Hillman in the past had been in housing provided by the city for the chronically homeless. He later received housing through the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to Brancaccio.

The Daily News reported a friend from Hillman’s past, Rev. John Graf Jr., saying he was surprised when he learned of the state of his high school buddy’s life.

“I never thought I’d open up a newspaper and see that the guy I played with in my own backyard swimming pool, and in high school games would be on the streets of New York,” Graf said to the Daily News.

Rev. John Graf with friend Jeff Hillman on his shoulders pictured in the 1970s. (Photo via New York Daily News)

Graf has established Jeffrey Hillman Survivors Fund to help his long-time friend, telling the Daily News “I’m not just going to sit back and let him be another homeless person.”

(H/T: NPR)

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Comments (53)

pwatkins
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 1:19am
Maybe the cop bought shoes too small for him….typical white cop.. He wouldn’t be the first beggar to have shoes given to him too small by white folks. Obama’s racist white grandma bought them too small for her poor black college kid.. Remember Michele said at the DNC convention when she first met Barry his shoes were to small. hahaha The only thing I believe Barry would ever have too small would be a hat to cover that swollen head of his and a muzzle large enough to fit that big mouth of his.

Seems every story about true charity these days turns into a “gem’me mo money fight.” I could think of something more to do with shoes for this guy than place them on his feet. The cop deserves credit for the effort to display an act of kindness, but once again the bum gets more attention in the media to promote the commie redistribution agenda.

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- December5
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 5:57am
  I heard the guy has an apartment and a family that has tried to help and offer him a home. Plus he gets vet benefits. Read fresh political commentary at: http://smallcraftadvisorychronicles.blogspot.com/
  
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LIZ_ADAMS
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 11:58pm
Refreshing opinions…!

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Git-R-Done
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:40pm
Unfortunately it’s very common for people who claim to be homeless to not really be homeless at all.

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WaterTheTree
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 9:57pm
My suspicions were raised when I noticed that he was shoeless and begging right next to a shoe store.

The police officer is a humanitarian worthy of appeciation and praise, and this particular bum is a theif worthy only of scorn and derision.

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- texanpatriot
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:57pm
  I agree. Maybe the good Samaritan was taking care of a man who had just gotten handouts at six synagogues.
  
  It was a Godly act either way for the NYPD Officer.
  
  Report this comment
- loriann12
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 6:55am
  God commands us to help. What they do with our gift is up to them. I remember being at a rest stop on I40 a LONG time ago. I was on leave from the Navy and driving to see my grandparents. A man came up to me and asked for gas money. I happened to have a couple dollars in change in my console, so I gave him that. I wasn’t about to open my purse and hand him cash so he could see I had more cash. I told him it was all I had. He could have been begging, or he could have been really out of gas. Seeing as this man didn’t actually wear the shoes, and has a warm apartment to go to, and is possibly getting veteran’s benefits, he probably sold the shoes. But you have to realize, VA benefits are not enough to live on. It’s about $350 a week if you put in 20 years and get out an E-6.
  
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Rowgue
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 8:44pm
I don’t know why this revelation would surprise anybody. There have been at least a dozen investigative report features on news magazine shows that have exposed almost every single homeless/beggar person they could find doing the same thing.

Very few people are legitimately homeless and destitute in this country. The overwhelming majority that present themselves as such are nothing more than con men that simply find it easier to dupe people into giving them money than trying to actually earn it.

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blanco5
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 8:41pm
Even the poor in Amerika live like kings. What other country’s poor have an excess of food, a huge screen tv, cell phones, cars (always with the handicap placard for the best parking spaces) etc????

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- YAHSHUARULES
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 5:56am
  Cloward and Pivien strategy “the weight of the poor” part of the agenda to destroy this country by creating people so dumbed down they not only want cradle to grave government care but they can’t exist without it –
  https://vimeo.com/52009124
  if that is not working try this: https://vimeo.com/16647512
  
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JACKTHETOAD
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:23pm
I’m still snickerin’ at the people that got suckered in. With the climate in America, the low-life libs even use feel good stories to push their agenda on the surface. How many other outlets, besides Glenn’s place, do you think are reporting the true story here?

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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:31pm
  Initially I thought if the cop wants to waste his money that’s fine,I just don’t want taxpayer money being wasted on any form of welfare. It looks like the bum has more money than the cop.
  
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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:44pm
  I just made a cup of tea for myself (no, really), and I was thinkin’…I’d be homeless on the net if it wasn’t for here. Most of us, too. I tried huffpo, yahoo, the atlantic and I’m gettin’ real sick of google too. Trying to teach pigs to sing sucks. Nothing but aggravation, because it’s like trying to deal with the Borg. One tiny brain for all those saps. i know what their responses are gonna be before they type them. I’m so glad that Glenn lets me post here. This IS THE BEST WEBSITE ON THE NET! God Bless Glenn and his Family both at home, and here on The Blaze and Best Wishes for a Joyous Christmas Season and a bright and Happy New Year!!! (Our Task is daunting indeed, yet WE ALL PUSH ON!! GODSPEED US ALL AND BLESS US IN HIS HOLY WORK!)
  
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BBReggie
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:19pm
Well this really bums me out …
But I have been waiting for the other boot to drop.

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Mudd
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:16pm
I didn’t read the article because there’s too much focus on this freak who goes shoeless in New York at any time of year. No one in America is too poor to go without shoes, or food, for that matter, with or without depending on the government. No arguements accepted, been there, done that – without begging or going on the dole – I’m speaking from experience.

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SaturdaysWarrior76
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:03pm
@East: I second Monk’s LOL :)

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progressiveslayer
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:32pm
That bums loaded,with drugs and money,hell he probably makes more scamming the system then the cop makes. The proper punishment for the freeloading parasite is a public caning and terminate his welfare.

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- DesertRose1960
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:41pm
  Jesus said “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me.” Somehow, I doubt Jesus would advocate beating up the poor.
  
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- Joseph2
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:11pm
  Playing ‘homeless’ is common in the L.A. area. Lots of people do it and make well over $100/day tax free–sometimes more, sometimes less-depending on how many hours they put in and how good their game is that day. Some have admitted it. These are cynical people but I suspect not as cynical as some of you will be by the time Obama’s done with you. I’ve come to the conclusion that Our President is a psychopath. For real. It’s going to be an interesting four years.
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:21pm
  DESERT…
  
  “Somehow, I doubt Jesus would advocate beating up the poor.”
  
  Obviously you’ve never seen him kick “poor Adolph’s” ass…
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01USG9xpnhE
  
  Report this comment
- progressiveslayer
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:25pm
  JOE Barry is a Marxist POS that’s for sure,if you recall in the so called health care law he had a provision for a ‘civilian army’ answerable only to the ‘ONE”. Hitler had a civilian army as well it was the SA and they answered only to Hitler.We’re moving to a dictatorship and sadly most people are to stupid to realize it.
  
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- progressiveslayer
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:28pm
  DESERTROSE Went right over your head huh? The bum isn’t poor he’s a criminal.
  
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- DesertRose1960
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 8:10pm
  Where does it say he’s a criminal? Many of the chronically homeless have mental health issues which they may self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. Being poor or mentally ill isn’t a crime. The article says he has a history of refusing services, meaning he isn’t taking money or services and even if he has an apartment, you don’t know if it’s safe to live there. He may feel “safer” on the street.
  
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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:35pm
  Desert – And people like you still want to waste taxpayer money on this problem.
  
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Assunta
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:29pm
May be just another form or ‘begging’. Too bad, I’ll bet the police officer feels like a fool if this is the case even though he did a good deed in the right spirit. The so-called homeless guy is the fool if he thinks he can continue gaming people – if indeed it is a game. Who knows? Some people can stoop pretty low now a days.

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benrush
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:19pm
We give and give and give, through taxes, donations, and collective economics, through schools, charities, employers, and it STILL isn’t enough to keep up with the misallocation for government and government dependent ne’erdowells.
Gee, ya think?

AS if thinking people didn’t see this one coming a zillion miles away.

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- Obamujahadeen
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:27pm
  I got banned from the Daily Caller for my comment on this guy, I called it from the beginning and people were just to ‘wrapped up in the feel goodiness’ to hear the truth. This country has been ‘pc’d’ to death. You speak the truth, you’re ‘banned’ or ‘silenced’ and it happens here to occasionally. : (
  
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MGrilla
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:19pm
I spent time on the streets when i was young, one thing I learned was in america there’s plenty of help if you need it, it’s true. And out of all the people I met, which was allot being a coastal city, I would say that 9 out of 10 of the bum’s I met, were just that bum’s, and their situation was self inflicted by an idea that the world was unfair and somehow owed them something. There’s opportunity out there, some just require less pride than others.

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- TheMajority
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:39pm
  There is not as much opportunity as there was 30 years ago and earlier, but I will say your a stand out. I love it when somebody makes something from nothing but “desire” and a “learning brain”, but we can’t do it with out opportunity (the only way to reduce poverty is to increase oportunity). The problem with collectivism is—it denies human beings of both. First, you get talked into being a victim in the USA, then you get suckered into revenge, and vote for the same 2-party system that sabotaged our lives—offering us–a imposter islamic communist, for “new ideas”.
  
  We have been turned into suckers, but it was first poor education, declining values, and declining opportunity (outsourcing,/international redistribution) that set the stage.
  
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adimeroll
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:18pm
I think we should all chip in and send him to a place where it is nice and warm…How about Berkley Ca.?

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- MGrilla
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:23pm
  Why not? We already bought him an apartment.
  
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thibx
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:16pm
in the town in tennessee i lived for years was a bag lady pushing a cart i would she her everday for a good 15 years people would give her money she looked dirty with dirty holes in her clothes and worn out shoes. well one day a reported did follow her without her knowing it. this bag lady’s son would pick her up at a hidden spot and in the morning he would let her out on his way to his office job. she lived in a mansion the best neighborhood and the property was completly paid for. the son said his mom had done this all her life. ripping off good hearted people.it did not bother the son i guess that’s how his education got paid.

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- Taquoshi
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:20pm
  It’s hard to believe that some people prefer to live this way.
  
  When I was in college, there was a woman who had all her possessions in a shopping cart. She used to walk up and down the main street. After I graduated, a couple took this woman into their home because a major storm was coming (was it ever, there were places that didn’t have electricity for weeks). They had an empty inlaw apartment and she could live there, rent free. Others chipped in to provider her with groceries and hot meals. She stayed for about a month and then just left to go back out on the streets.
  
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jungle J
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:14pm
another mkan following in the footsteps of Obama..being a fraud.

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Eastinfection
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:14pm
He only dresses like a bum because the OWS crowd made it trendy.

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BlackCrow
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:13pm
This guy pulled out a VA card for Identification. The VA has programs for homeless Vets. Something doesn’t pass the smell test here.

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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:15pm
  Times are tough.
  The VA doesn’t hand out Morphine like it used to.
  
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- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:18pm
  dude. thats your evidence? One in four homeless people are veterans. http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-11-07-homeless-veterans_N.htm
  
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Cibolo
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:11pm
I say we kick him to a bloody pulp with those boots, give them to someone that will actually appreciate them, then eat a pie in front of him while he is being arrested for vagrancy!

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- ResistSocialism
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:16pm
  Exactly
  
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- Keatonc33
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:19pm
  Im sorry your dad wasn’t around much in your childhood.
  
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- ResistSocialism
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:31pm
  Keatonc33 maybe God will have mercy on you
  
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- DesertRose1960
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:46pm
  @Resistsocialism, God is merciful, which is good for you and Cibolo, since you advocate harming some of His creations. Somehow, I don’t think this is what Jesus would want.od is merciful, which is good for you and Cibolo, since you advocate harming some of His creations. Somehow, I don’t think this is what Jesus would want.
  
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- Git-R-Done
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 10:37pm
  Desert – God doesn’t approve of liars, which this bum is doing.
  
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- RIGHT_WHERE_IT_HURTS
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 8:52am
  The Father approves of righteous retribution. Leave Jesus out of it. He’ll forgive them ‘later on’.
  
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Tri-ox
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:09pm
Just another typical obama-scammer. Our tax dollars at work.

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loveliberty83
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:08pm
as many now some people make a lot of money panhandling some $100, per a day 7 guess what don’t pay taxes

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The-Monk
Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:05pm
Back on the last story about him I was wondering where he would “hide” those boots.

The only safe place would be a locker; like a bus station locker.

Now we know…..

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- Cibolo
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:16pm
  Looks like he is hiding them in the apartment “WE THE TAXPAYERS” are paying for……
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:18pm
  …. that he hides them under his Dell….
  and put’s them on like Mr. Rodgers right before clicking the “Pantlodian- user profile” shortcut on his desktop.
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 6:23pm
  Hi East,
  
  LOL : )
  
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- Eastinfection
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:10pm
  Hi Monk..
  
  figured you’d like that one ;)
  
  Hey WANGO… no offense BTW :D…. it was there for the taking and i just couldn’t resist!
  
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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on December 4, 2012 at 7:51pm
  ‘You can tell, by the smell, that those boots are right from hell, as the liars go rolling along.’
  
  Report this comment

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