"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Man living as an ‘adult baby’ is cleared of Social Security fraud

This story perfectly embodies the essence of Welfare.


From the Washington Times:
The California man who lives part of his life as an “adult baby” and collects Social Security disability payments says the federal agency has cleared him of wrongdoing and will continue sending checks.

Stanley Thornton Jr. now wants an apology from Sen. Tom Coburn, the Oklahoma Republican who called for the benefit review because the investigation disrupted the final months of life for his roommate Sandra Dias, who playacted as his mother, spoon-feeding him and helping him into his baby clothes until her death in July.

“We recently reviewed the evidence in your Social Security disability claim and find that your disability is continuing,” the agency said in an August letter that Mr. Thornton posted on the website he maintains to document his adult baby lifestyle.

Mr. Thornton first gained prominence after he appeared on a reality television show and later after Mr. Coburn asked for the Social Security Administration to investigate him. The lawmaker questioned why he was receiving taxpayer-funded Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments, commonly called disability checks, given the woodworking skills he demonstrated in May on the National Geographic channel television show “Taboo.”

Dias died July 7, and Mr. Thornton moved out of the apartment they shared. He told The Washington Times they had made payments based on their combined disability checks, which came to about $860 a month for each of them, and he could no longer afford the home on his own.

“My best friend Sandra had to spend the last 3 months of her life being accused of something she didn’t do. Having her family and 3 kids seeing her accused on the nightly news of something she didn’t do,” he wrote in an extensive post explaining the situation on the website he runs at www.BedWettingABDL.com for others who play-act as babies, wear diapers or wet their beds.

John Hart, a spokesman for Mr. Coburn, said Tuesday that the senator, who is also a medical doctor, is still puzzled by how “a grown man who is able to design and build adult-sized baby furniture is eligible for disability benefits.”

“Yet, the problem is not with Mr. Thornton, per se, but with the politicians and bureaucrats who have coddled him,” Mr. Hart said. “Disability fraud effectively steals from those who are truly disabled, while weakening the economy for everyone.”
In emails to The Times, he said he was exonerated by all of the agencies.

“Just thought I would let people know, I have been triple cleared of being accused by Senator Coburn of Social Security fraud,” he wrote.

In the program, Mr. Thornton was shown playing in the adult-sized crib he built and seen working to build a wooden highchair. Mr. Coburn asked Social Security’s inspector general to take a closer look at the disability program and Mr. Thornton’s situation in particular to see whether beneficiaries were being paid by taxpayers even though they were able to work.

When The Times first contacted Mr. Thornton about the investigation, he acknowledged thoughts of suicide, saying he had “no problem killing myself” if his benefits were taken away.

“Take away the last thing keeping me here, and see what happens. Next time you see me on the news, it will be me in a body bag,” he said.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree with Stein who said living as a baby is a fetish. So now we're supporting with our tax dollars someone who has a fetish. What next? I don't even want to go there but this is what this country has come to under the stupidity of liberalism. They have no sense let alone common sense. The more outrageous, ridiculous or harmful an idea the more it's embraced and it's no longer a secret that the end game is to destroy our society.