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Media Report: Aggressive Please Touch Museum area panhandler arrested

August 18, 2014

A man who was allegedly approaching cars and people in West Fairmount Park and demanding money in recent weeks, has been arrested. Described as a white male in his late 30s/early 40s, the man was aggressively approaching mostly women with young children near the Please Touch Museum and other family-friendly areas, according to reports. Police were informed and were on the lookout and caught up with the unidentified man Sunday outside the Philadelphia Zoo, NBC10 reports.

Several people posted on social media about encounters with the panhandler. He approached a West Philly woman last Wednesday at Belmont and Lansdowne and told her that he was a Temple University professor and that his name was Shawn Sullivan. He told the woman, who posted about her experience on the TotLot listserv, that his wife and kids had been in a car accident and that he needed a ride to the scene of the accident or some money. He told many others similar stories, according to NBC10. He even approached the NBC10 news van and asked for cash while they were filming a news report about him after hearing of complaints. In some cases, the man was loud, looked agitated and was aggressive, especially when people refused to give him money.

We’ll update when we have more information.

4 Comments For This Post

  1. guest Says:

    Omar still remains at large.

  2. Mark Mandel Says:

    And who is this Omar you speak of?

  3. guest Says:

    This guy stopped me in University City about a month ago at night. Claimed he owned Cav’s and that his wife was in a car accident. Would not take no for an answer, was indeed aggressive. It was uncomfortable.

  4. AF Says:

    This guy approached me at CVS last summer (2013)! He was very persistent and claimed his wife was in labor and he needed cab money to get to the hospital. How bout that?

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