By Jessie Burchette
jburchette@salisburypost.com
A man who flim-flammed some of the town’s most generous givers is now in jail.
Salisbury Police arrested Santo (Santos) Monicon Shipp, 48, 317 N. Martin Luther King Ave., around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Chief Mark Wilhelm said a patrol officer spotted Shipp walking along a street near downtown.
Shipp is charged with six counts of attempting to obtain property by false pretense and five counts of obtaining property by false pretense. His bond was set at $25,000.
Shipp, who is out on parole from a life sentence handed down in 1994, approached dozens of senior citizens in Salisbury with a story of a family tragedy in South Carolina and a broken down car.
He virtually always asked for money to fix the car.
In many cases, he targeted people well known for giving to charity. Detective Patrick Smith said police received 16 calls from people who were targeted by Shipp. Some declined to press charges.
When picked up Tuesday morning, Shipp didn’t have any money on him and he declined to talk to police.
Shipp has previously been convicted of first-degree burglary and break ins, almost always targeting elderly residents.