A man with, um, identity issues
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Thomas Prusik-Parkin, 49, is accused by prosecutors of regularly dressing up in a wig, dress and make-up in order to fool the authorities.
The alleged scam has been going on ever since Mr Prusik-Parkin's mother, Irene Prusik, died in 2003 at the age of 73.
He faces charges of theft, forgery and conspiracy.
"I held my mother when she was dying and breathed in her last breath, so I am my mother," Mr Prusik-Parkin said when he was arrested, according to police.
The man had gone so far as to go through a bankruptcy proceeding in court impersonating his dead mother and went to DMV in person and renewed her driver's license.
Reminds me of the famous line:
"Be Yourself; everyone else is already taken."
— Oscar Wilde
The Daily News has an extremely strange transcript of court testimony by Mr. Prusik-Parkin at a foreclosure hearing:
"How is your mother's health currently?" the lawyer asked.
. . .
"Fair," Parkin replied. "She had taken a stroke a few years ago. ... She can't walk properly. She can't speak."
"How does it affect her speech?"
"'Bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh, bleh,' like that."
"Slurred or unintelligible?"
"To say the least."
"You speak with her, correct? You meet with her?"
"She doesn't reply directly, really."
"How do you communicate with her? How does she respond?"
"It's one-sided."
There are more weird details in The Daily News.