People being Stupid News item of the Week

Two men try to cash dead friend's check (NYT)

Two men in New York are facing charges in a bizarre case where they were caught with a corpse at a check cashing store. Police say they were trying to cash in on their friend's death.

NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says "if you like 'Weekend at Bernies' you're gonna like this story." Even the police commissioner couldn't believe the story. Today a first glimpse of the two men who police say wheeled their dead friend's body in an office chair to try and cash his $365 Social Security check. They said they didn't do it.

But 55-year-old David Galoia and 65-year-old James O'Hare are accused of trying to pull off the stunt at this Pay-o-Matic on 9th Avenue, a stunt out of a Hollywood movie. Police say when their good friend, 66-year-old Virgilio Cintron, died they saw an opportunity. They put his dead body in an office chair, somehow got him down the stairs of his Midtown walkup, and literally wheeled him over to the check cashing store.

Ray Kelly says "they left him outside in the chair then went into the establishment and tried to arrange to have the check cashed, meanwhile a crowd developed." Witness Aref Algazli said "one of them was on his right side, one of them was on his left side and his neck was back." When asked if he could believe they tried to pull it off, witness Victor Gonzalez said "not really but its sick you know."

With all the commotion, a detective having a burrito at the restaurant next door decided to check it out, discovering the man was dead. Turns out police say Cintron had Parkinson's and died of natural causes.

Galioa and O'Hare were both charged with attempted forgery, attempted possession of a forged instrument, and petty larceny. No charges have been filed referring to the dead body.
Apparently police determined wheeling a dead person through the streets in this case, is not against the law.

This reminds me of the film "Waking Ned Devine" where an older gentleman dies after winning the lottery and his friend pretends to be him to cash in the ticket.