In three episodes of Just Shoot Me, David Cross played Donnie, a guy who pretended to be mentally disabled after falling out of a tree. Ten years previously. I would say he's the inspiration for today's hero, but it appears this dude has been faking retardation for so long that it may be the other way around. From local6.com via Drudge:
TACOMA, Wash. -- For nearly 20 years -- ever since Pete Costello was 8 -- his mother has collected disability benefits on his behalf.
In meetings with Social Security officials and psychologists, he appeared mentally retarded and unable to communicate. His mother insisted he couldn't read or write, shower, take care of himself or drive a car.
But now prosecutors said it was all a huge fraud, and they have video of Costello contesting a traffic ticket to prove it.
"He's like any other person trying to get out of a traffic ticket," Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Barbosa said Tuesday.
Pete and Rosie Marie Costello were indicted in September on charges of conspiracy to defraud the government and Social Security fraud, and the case was unsealed Tuesday. The Vancouver pair were scheduled to appear in federal court in Tacoma on Tuesday.
. . .
The indictment accuses Costello of faking -- or at least exaggerating -- retardation since August 1997, because that is what prosecutors are confident they can prove, Barbosa said. But the pair first received benefits 10 years before that.
And I'd like to note here that one of the depressing things about being a blogger with an audience approaching zero is that you can stop posting for two weeks without explanation - and nobody notices.
Hey, I noticed, but I didn't want to say anything so you wouldn't think I'm stalking you.
We're all guys here, right?