'Disabled' begger/ conman Gary Hank Thompson, pleads guilty to duping shoppers.and SSA to the tune of $100,000

Photo: KY Dept Of Corrections

 Gary Hank Thompson, 33, pleaded guilty Wednesday to duping charges.

    Gary Hank Thompson had been duping shoppers into giving him money for four years before being caught
    He says he earned as much as $100,000 annually and also scammed $81,831 in Medicaid benefits

Read story after the cut ......

Thompson pleaded guilty Wednesday of failing to report income and misrepresentation charges
    He is already serving a 14-month sentence for passing a bad check and seven months for assaulting a corrections employee

A Kentucky man who claims to have made as much as $100,000 annually by panhandling while pretending to be mentally disabled has pleaded guilty to similar duping charges.

Gary Hank Thompson, 33,  pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to defrauding the Supplemental Security Administration by failing to report income and falsely misrepresenting his mental condition to receive benefits.

Thompson, who has been dubbed the 'bogus beggar,' admitted that between 2009 and 2013, he made the misrepresentations to receive Supplemental Security Income benefits amounting to $24,884. 

He also admitted that he obtained $81,831 in Medicaid benefits.

Photo: KY Dept Of Corrections

Thompson feigned a mental disability while begging and claims he made upwards of $100,000 annually 

Thompson has been accused of falsely representing his mental condition by slowing his speech and stuttering when he sought benefits.

When he was first brought to the attention of Lexington police in February 2103, a spokeswoman told Kentucky.com that Thompson pretended to be handicapped by by 'using slurred, slowed speech, contorting his face and holding one hand close to his body as if he doesn't have use of it'.

Spokeswoman Sherelle Roberts added: 'He handles himself in such a way that it's very offensive and almost mocking of people who have legitimate disabilities.'

And while Thompson has trouble walking and sometimes uses a wheelchair, his mental handicap is 'totally made up', she said. 

Photo: Google

Regular haunt: Thompson was known to frequent the Zandale shopping center on Nicholasville Road for his panhandling 

He was known to frequent the Zandale shopping center on Nicholasville Road, the Lansdowne shopping center on Tates Creek Road and in Hamburg, according to Kentucky.com. 

Back in 2013, Thompson had pleaded guilty to two counts of theft by deception for taking money from shoppers under the guise of being handicapped, said Courier-Journal.com.

He was also seen aggressively panhandling in a wheelchair - which he did not need - in Louisville.

Thompson is already serving a 14-month-sentence for passing a bad check in Barren County and seven months for assaulting a corrections employee in Shelby County. 

Prosecutors will recommend a prison sentence of two years and three months when Thompson is sentenced in June, plus restitution totaling more than $106,000, according to a news release.

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Courtesy: mail