Man Caught Impersonating Dead Mom

Impersonation: the little-known sixth stage of grief? A New York man was charged today for impersonating his mother, who died in 2003, and attempting to renew her driver’s license. Thomas Parkin aimed to collect $117,000 in government benefits by impersonating his mother at a Brooklyn Department of Motor Vehicles in April, following six years of fraud described by a district attorney as "unparalleled in its scope and brazeness" and included elaborate costumes, makeup, even an oxygen tank. Parkin started by falsifying the death certificate of Irene Parkin and managed to receive $700 a month in Social Security. He also managed to get $65,000 in rent subsidies by claiming he had a disability and that his mother was his landlord. What finally foiled Parkin’s plot? A picture of Irene’s tombstone at a local cemetery. Rookie mistake!