this guy missed his calling;he should have been a Washington politician!

And now the banks will stick it to us! We do not deserve it.....

JohnSixty - your remark shows how far we gone towards a return to the days of the Great Depression.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, you saw a spate of films, like High Sierra, featuring anti-heroes. The protagonists were often operating outside of the law, but were portrayed as sympathetic, even admirable people.

Such characters personified the feelings and sympathies of much of the public, who'd seen banks foreclose on homes and farms, who'd seen businesses disappear overnight, and once prosperous, or at least solvent individuals turned into beggars.

The feelings are understandable, and even somewhat justified. But it is not a happy thing to live in such times.

...and I doubt this particular criminal is particularly admirable.

He might be homeless and a crook..but he's not a dummy that's for sure.

The dummies are the hotel employees!

Sure, the banks refunded the money, but they they go get it back from the vendor. The hotels, or other vendors, ultimately lost, not the banks.

i dont get this at all. dont people physically go to the front desk anymore and check out of their hotels?

With his EBT Card unemployment check, and free medical care what a life

He is to be congratulated. He stuck it to the banks. They deserve it.

Even if the banks "ate" it (which isn't a given), it caused quite a bit of grief for the victimized credit card holders, and could have affected their credit ratings. If the banks threw their respective weight around and forced the vendors to "eat" it, then it cost the vendors money.

Kind of pathetic that you feel any kind of fraudster like this deserves any kind of congratulations whatsoever.

Just shows what can happen if you don't go to the front desk and return your keys and check out. Can't happen if you do. But so many people just leave the room. My guess is that the guy just followed housekeeping around, came in while they were cleaning, and acted as if the room was his and that we was going to stay longer. Then called the front desk to extend.

i dont get this at all. dont people physically go to the front desk anymore and check out of their hotels?

Not anymore. For convenience, they slip your folio (bill) under your door very early in the morning before you leave so that you can take a look at it. If it looks right, you just leave, no need for the old hassle of checking out at the front desk since there are no keys to return anymore, those magnetic keycards just get deactivated automatically.

dman-353357

JohnSixty - your remark shows how far we gone towards a return to the days of the Great Depression.

During the 1930s and early 1940s, you saw a spate of films, like High Sierra, featuring anti-heroes. The protagonists were often operating outside of the law, but were portrayed as sympathetic, even admirable people

you are corect just look at jhon dillanger for exsample.

I agree Mark we should lock them all up... at your house.

He doesn't sound homeless too me.... He found a way to keep a roof over his head and even now he will have room and board for quite some time.....When all is lost you do things out of desparation. this guy sounds like a fairly smart man too figure this deal out and get away with for so long. The risk of jail probably didn't seem so bad compared to living on the streets wondering where your going to find shelter and your next meal you dug out of the trash bin. We all know this is wrong but when your down to the point your literally trying to just survive you do things because you have too not because you want too.

I stayed at Loews in San Diego - like they don't stick it to their guests.

The Edgewater Inn in Seattle (where the Beatles stayed) charged us for a bottle of champagne that we had bought at Safeway - they just charge you for whatever is in the garbage can in the room.

coolest bum ever.

now the justice system will cost taxpayers more than the banks and hotels lost and PRICE will be on the streets again to apply his trade.might even get a health checkup before he is turned loose.

Says a lot about the state of this country. You've always gotta do the best you can with what you got wherever you are. Looks like He did, and in grand style. He has my admiration.

Tea Party, since you want to bring politics into this, I am sure Price was a Democrat. They are always wanting something for nothing.

While every hotel I've stayed in the last few years has slipped the bill under the door, that was by 9 AM and we still had to physically check-out at the front desk and return the key-cards before check-out time to guarantee we wouldn't be billed for an extra day. It always seemed like a sensible policy to me.

I guess he got tired of being out in the street and wanted to see how the other half lives. Good for him, of course this wouldnt have happened if he went to Motel 6. He has good taste in hotels, Ha, Ha!

What got him was when he tried to charge it to the Underhill's. :)

I heard that many banks have contacted him for a CEO position

Well if this (poor man) goes to jail, he will still get three squares and a cot! I would also take offense at the remark that Americans are free loaders! Our country pays so much in foreign aid to morally corrupt countries who spit on us, and here we are, deep in debt, no jobs. Maybe Americans would stop being" freeloaders", if some of the jobs shipped overseas, because of cheap labor would be shipped back to the U.S.

As for the freeloader remarks, lot of these people paid tax, participated in wars, and were proud of their country. Hard times are here now, do not judge them so harshly until u walk amile in their shoes and pray to God u never end up in that dark place, no job, no money, no way to take care of ur family.

How will they collect it? By threatening to house him in jail forever? By threatening to garnish non-existent income? A lien on a home he will never buy?

And now the taxpayer gets to put him up in style in prison.

And now the taxpayer gets to put him up in style in prison.

I don't think prison is "up in style" for many people. Maybe he'll get food and shelter, but carrying soap-on-a-rope in the showers and hoping not to get beaten up by other inmates doesn't sound like the high life to most normal people.

JAX A I was being facetious, look it up.

oooooo, looks like Jax and Urban are going to fight....over some guy neither of them knows.......popcorn please.....

Jax: Urban was being sarcastic, which was obvious on the face of it. I fully enjoyed it, and believe there is no standard, appropriate emoticon to symbolize sarcasm. If he had used an emoticon or "/sarcasm" (meaning: end of sarcastic statement) I feel it would have diminished the post. Like someone having to explain a punchline to a special needs person. It was a perfectly executed statement obvious to 99.9% of the world.

This guy is a freeloader....just like most Americans.

@stoopid... your screen name suits you perfectly.

"Mark Taft

This guy is a freeloader....just like most Americans."

and where did you get that from Mark? So you claim more than 50% of Americans are freeloaders? You must be a GOP teabagger??

You know first we start hearing all this socialist BS and now EVERYONE is a freeloader. Gezzzzzzz

As well as being forced to go back to the MD 20/20 and Thunderbird he used to drink, instead of the fine wines he enjoyed at those nice hotels, using other people's money. As well as settle for a cardboard box or an underpass instead of a comfy bed with widescreen TV, Egyptian cotton satin sheets, and room service at his beck and call. And back to the hunger center or soup kitchen instead of the 5-star restaurants he was eating at...at this point, McDonald's would be a luxury now. And ragged, hand-me-down clothes instead of tailored suits. At least he enjoyed being down and out on South Beach.

Yeah Toby, And now Mr. Price can enjoy wearing State of Florida issued clothes working off his debt picking up trash on the highway. Working to earn his keep and repay his bill,just like those whose identity he stole from. Kinda like the way Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County Arizona sees it,but for some reason some folks disagree with the Sheriff. Until it happens to them. This guy is a grifter, he needs to be taught a lesson. Not some lame jail sentence that will make him sharpen his game so not to get caught in the future. David Price is a thief. Most people would be fortunate to take their family on vacation in these tough times. Sheriff Joe would have this guy where he belongs,in little pink shorts sleeping in a tent working in the hot sun. No talk show appearance, no Tom Hanks movie, no "How I Did It" book signing tour, game over Davy "Pay The" Price!

Nope, NC Open Heart...no fight here....once you start to argue with a troll, the troll wins.

Oh yes...the Crowbar Hilton. At least he would have a bed and 3 square meals a day...and they'll leave the light on for you.

MJ

Why should he? His obstinance causes problems for all of us

@ master joseph:

"...you can't seem to move on and adjust with your blindness?" And how is this a question?

The customer can still go to the desk and make sure they are checked out. However, in our species quest to be as lazy as possible, most would rather assume they are all set.

if you have a car in the hotel lot, if you check out at the desk before moving the car out of the lot you are charged for parking.....unless you do not mind waiting half an hour while the " really intelligent " person in the guard house checks......your receipt is meaningless, by the way. So best to keep the key-card that lets you in and out of the lot, till you are able to shred it.

huh?

Arthur-348233....Had the same reaction. Not saying it was right, but I do admire his ingenuity ! Somehow I feel better towards this guy than I feel towards people who never get a job but keep taking welfare, free housing and medical with no attempt to ever contribute to society. Not much difference in the crime as far as I am concerned. Many people have confused the "safety net" with a "way of life", at least this guy did his crime in style. I'll bet he took one of those nice $90 terrycloth robes too !

Arthur-348233...actually the people he ripped off were the credit card banks and hotels. I realize that loss filters down, but does anyone think the credit card companies and banks would actually lower their rates and fees if there were less fraud ? We all know they would just make the bonuses to the top guys bigger ! The crime is still wrong, but I can't work up the same feelings of distain I feel for most other crimes that usually have real people as victims.

Make that the account numbers of the "1%'s" credit cards, considering the swank hotels he was staying in at their expense.

Looks like you got it! I get amused at reading the slamming I get from comments like the one I made (#5), trolling at its best. Caught a lot of suckers.

Speaking of trolling, why was this back page, no news, article placed here for comment? To get this started! I did, hee,hee.

That right Paul you're a troll, be proud.

They likely got their bill, and having an early flight, left the room keys in the room when they left. This is a common method of "self check-out".

Even if you receive a "final bill" many hotels will let you stay on if you call the front desk and tell them you are staying on longer.

The homeless man no doubt looked for those room bills at night, sticking out from under the door, realized who was checking out, made a note of their names, and then waited until the victim left.

He tells the cleaning staff that he "forgot" his room key, and they let him in. Armed with the key, he calls the desk and extends the stay, which they put on the credit card on record.

And then it is room service, hotel meals, gifts from the gift shop - whatever, all charged to the room.

TURN IN YOUR KEY CARD when checking out. And hotels should stop allowing people to extend stays over the phone, unless they come to the desk with credit card in hand....

I've stayed at hotels where you can check out through the television. Press a few buttons and you're outta there!

The naievete on display here is somewhat depressing.

Yes, we all have some measure of choice as to the direction of our lives. But the fact is that there are physical, psychological, and social limitations imposed on each and every one of us. Consider that many of the homeless are mentally ill in some way. They cannot simply choose to be otherwise any more than I could choose to grow a third arm from my forehead. And while for some there may be treatments available that might help mitigate that, most of them are quite expensive to procure as even diagnosis will generally run you thousands of dollars and many of the medications will cost you hundreds of dollars each month in perpetuity. And this assumes that they're even capable of recognizing their problems and seeking help - most with mental illness aren't.

As far as employment, what employer is going to hire anyone for a job paying a living wage for someone who has no resume, no references, no regular access to basic hygeine, and is generally in extremely poor health? No amount of hard work, positive thinking, or can-do attitude is going to make an HR department regularly overlook these factors.

Without knowing the exact circumstances that lead this man to this particular course of action, we cannot judge him for them. And to comdemn every homeless individual for their lot in life isn't championing personal responsibility, it's just passing the buck once again, trying to absolve our society, our government, and ourselves of any responsibility we share for the homeless by oversimplifying the issue.

I understand that many of the homeless are former servicemen (and women?) who have lost everything and may be suffering from after effects of their service. It is a disgrace to this country.

Though there are people who are homeless by choice or as the result of bad choices, I think that many are homeless by circumstances and need help to get it turned around along with some hard work on their part. Perhaps they lost their job or their home or ended up in debt or were kicked out as kids by their parents. Many of the mentally ill were kicked out of state funded homes to live on the street and are unable to help themselves. A truly compassionate person would understand the differences and not over generalize.

Actually it sounds more of a Democrats lifestyle. Take care of me because you have more than I. Heh I feel bad but it's snot my fault.

Don't be a Mittwit. The Republicans are no better or worse. Despite a few minor changes in policy should Mitt take office you will see no meaningful changes for the "99%". Our political system is in serious need of overhaul. But.... The people with the most money have better access to the "system" and aren't likely to give that up. I am of course talking about the mega rich corps. and those that own them when I refer to the people with the money. The blizzard of money flying back and forth in DC from one deep pocket to another is astonishing. The flow of wealth is the only thing that matters in DC. It is hard for most people to comprehend,myself included. The value of regular people and their lives are NEVER a consideration in politics despite anything you might hear from either side of our wonderful political "system". We the "99%" are just the engine that provides wealth to the "1%". Good luck to you and your point of view.

TIM580939: You must joking, because if you're not, you're a idiot. Yeah right, the Democrats are the only ones that break laws. Gee, if I'm not mistaken, the only President forced to resign in disgrace because he got caught obstructing justice and authorizing burglaries was a Republican.

Norm, they do not like to talk about him. He was the banished one and ever since they have been trying their damnedest to figure out to get one on the other "side".

I find it notable that had this perp been someone of another "persuasion" they would be calling for him to be hung from the highest rafters and some more things. And please do not deny it, all anyone has to do is click on any story about something that someone of another "persuasion" has done and they are like rabid animals.

This person is a criminal okay, what he did is NOT admirable. What he did affected real people not just a bank or credit card company. I cannot stand the tactics that banks and cc companies use either, so I am not defending them. He decided that instead of going to a shelter and looking for a job to get himself out of that situation, he just took up residence in hotel rooms and then went on a spending spree with SOMEONE else's money!!!

They need to make him work for the hotels that he scammed by cleaning and doing other odd jobs to pay off his bills!!

"The guy was obviously a democrat, he was living off everybody else. He will never pay anything back. Just like the guy in the white house right now. Him and his wife scamming us for hundreds of millions of dollars of vacations. Partying with the millionares"

Couple of things.

So you believe all democrats are living of everybody else? WOW you're not too bright are you?

As for the President he isn't doing anything different than any other President did. They all take vacations they all party with millionaires they all fly Air force one around the country campaigning . I'm also sure none of his vacations cost hundreds of millions of dollars. So did you complain and lie when your party's President did it also?

The rest of your post was just too idiototic to respond to

For the record I'm a Dem and I don't live off anyone, idiot.

The hotel could be required to give a charge, of course that will result in more survelliance which equates to higher prices. Of course the CC company could tighten security and require a pin for every transaction including CC purchases; again this equates to higher costs.

But who do you think is going to eat these costs, not the companies. The customer is going to pay for additional security in the end.

And security must also be lacking if he can walk around looking for room to sneak into and no one questions who or what he is doing.

That sounds a lot like blaming the victim. While it is true that hotels could alter their policies to make such scams more difficult, chances are that they were unaware of the vulnerability until someone exploited it. Probably the least expensive way to block the scam is to require photo ID verification to extend a hotel stay. A password would be less effective than requiring photo ID: people tend to either pick weak, easy to remember (and easily guessed) passwords, or if forced to pick stronger passwords, will write them down.

It would also be unwise to let a "locked-out" person into a room until he/she is able to verify his/her identity as the rightful occupant of that room. This could be achieved by requiring photo ID or (for those who have an excuse to for his/her wallet to not be available) provide personal information which could be checked against the hotel's database.

What do you call rich? As far as I know the wealthy pay into SSI, therefore they should be able to use it. If they cannot, then that is taxation without representation. Oh, I forgot that is our whole tax code.

Yeah Bush/Cheney set it up that way for our own good don't ya know

The next time you feel tempted to tell a homeless person to get a job, offer him one instead. Just make sure that you pay him a living wage with benefits. Otherwise, why should he bother to work for you?

Shandril, what's the precise amount for a "living wage?" And if the homeless person is unskilled and unqualified for anything other than menial labor, why should that person be entitled to anything other than minimum wage?

No one should tell a homeless person to "get a job," but it's certainly not the responsibility of people passing by them to interview them, check their credentials and background and offer them a "living wage" job, either.

Agree with Jax. Define a living wage? Let's say the homeless person is qualified to be a ditchh digger. What do you think his wage should be? Let's say, for argument sake, you think $10/hour. Why? I could go and hire high school kids for minimum wage. It is all about supply and demand.

I agree the homeless population is growing at an alarming rate. I can also tell you that I have known at least one person who preferred living under the freeway. He collected in'2000 ( last time I saw him ) over $75,000 in tax free money. He kept his nice things in a storage unit, and would go to change there if he had 'an engagement'. He would use the local service station bathrooms to bathe and brush his teeth. I am not saying this is for everyone. MOST of the people who are homeless are homeless because of the BS that Bush/Cheney put us all through. Many of us are still struggling on a day to day basis to make ends meet. But those that are homeless are usually homeless through no fault of their own. Sure, tell them to get a job. Where? Can you feed a family of 5 on 16 hours a week at Mickey Ds? I didn't think so. I NEVER give money to a pan handler, I have however bought them meals, given them blankets, and clothing. I prefer to think that most people are like me. Give what you can of what they need but save your $$ for the light bill.

A "living wage" would be just enough money for a single person (or family) to maintain a basic apartment, pay utilities and expenses, and buy groceries, without government assistance. Assuming that, for a single person, a one bedroom apartment is $500 per month, furnished with thrift-shop/garage sale furniture and a used refrigererator and stove, utilities would be about $50/month each for gas, electricity, and a basic land line telephone, and groceries for that person would come to about $200 per month, typically using discount supermarkets and store-brand items. Plus about $150/month for incidentals (such as soaps, cleaning supplies, clothing, etc.) This would come to about $1000 take-home pay per month. Add at least $100 a month to pay for basic health insurance that he/she would use only in an emergency...the cost of the deductible could be banked out of the "incidentals" money. With these expenses in mind, a "living wage" should come out to about $1200 per month.

Unbelievably ridiculous. Would you prefer we don't have jails and don't incarcerate anyone?

lol There are rarely hot meals in jail it is usually a PB&J sandwich.

Reply to frances-283318: How do you know? Have you been in jail.

Uh, I haven't been to jail recently but I think your claims of this nation's jails serving cold sandwiches all the time is untrue.

Eric--I have been to jail and they do serve cold sandwiches all of the time..

sw philly, I don't think spending the night in a little hick town one room jail cell counts, your talking out of your azz you dumb sh!t