View Full Version : The Con Man - Lesco a/k/a "Saved"
Good Morning! Haven't been here in awhile...
Today's (Saturday) Washington Post came with all of the Sunday supplements (comics, ads, etc.) for some reason...?
The Washington Post Magazine has an article on "The Con Man Wore Hiking Boots" by David A Fahrentold about David Lesco a/k/a/ "Saved" who stole / lied /conned his way on the AT last year. It is not on the Washington Post website yet.
I remember all of concern about this guy, the outrage here on whiteblaze, and the sporadic news items.
Thought ya' all would be interested in this "mostly" favorable article concerning the AT community.
Happy Trails,
J.D.
wilconow
01-03-2006, 19:20
i just came across this article when reading a chat with the PATC in the post. here's the link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/15/AR2005111501167_3.html
there's some interesting notes in the story. i only knew about the women in snp
Because of its anonymity, isolation and ample charity, it's a good place for bad people to hide out. Though serious crimes are rare in this American Garden of Eden, they do happen.
In 1988, for instance, two women were shot, one fatally, by a drifter named Stephen Roy Carr who had been living along the trail in Pennsylvania's Michaux State Forest. Two years later, near Duncannon, Pa., a thru-hiking couple was murdered -- one shot, one stabbed -- in a trail shelter by a man who was on the run from Florida police. In 1996, two women were stabbed to death on a side trail near the AT in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park. Police eventually charged a man with the murders, but DNA evidence from the crime scene unraveled the case against him. It remains unsolved.
wilconow
01-03-2006, 19:21
oh yeah here's the patc chat. its interesting how they get such praise for their trail maintenance. i really wouldnt know much else since 95% ~150 miles of the at ive hiked on is maintained by the patc.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2005/11/18/DI2005111801844.html
wilconow
01-03-2006, 19:35
here's another quote from the thief article
In October, Janet Hensley, the owner of a trailside hostel in Tennessee, posted a message on the hiker bulletin board www.whiteblaze.net. Its heading was one word: "Thief!"
"It is with a certain amount of anger and sadness that I feel that I have to start letting the AT community know about a situation," she began. The posting included most everything that authorities knew about Lescoe at the time: his height, age, tattoos and trail name.
Lone Wolf
01-03-2006, 20:07
Why you bringing this POS back up?
timhines
03-04-2007, 15:22
i'm bringing it up again just to get under your skin l. Wolf! :-)
seriously though, it's in backpacker this month (another POS according to some). But it goes to show how positive real trail angels and the online AT community is.
Lone Wolf
03-04-2007, 15:23
i'm bringing it up again just to get under your skin l. Wolf! :-)
seriously though, it's in backpacker this month (another POS according to some). But it goes to show how positive real trail angels and the online AT community is.
that's cool, bro.:)
eventidecu
03-04-2007, 16:57
Bet that article attracts other educated con-derelicts to the AT making it sound like it's easy to "fit in" and get "trail magic" to survive. Hope I'm wrong but I'll be watching for people with "questionable" gear or dress and stories. Such a shame. Just the story makes it seem alittle "too easy" to hide out. Have to come up with some type of "little rascals he man woman haters club" signal so we know one another. LOL
Jack Tarlin
03-04-2007, 17:07
The article also tells potential con artists and scammers that they'll go to jail.
So all in all, it seems to be performing a service of sorts. For everyone of those sorts the article attracts to the Trail, it may scare some away, too.
Assuming they read Backpacker, of course. :rolleyes:
I would guess that the vast majority of cons on the run wouldn't find hiding out in the woods day after day to be very rewarding, let alone remotely comfortable.
orangebug
03-04-2007, 17:27
Heck, the last con artist I met was back in August, taking up residence in The Place in Damascus. Tried to hit my wife and me up for drinks by claiming to haved walked all of the 750 miles of the AT from Maine.
We let him go on until it was simply outrageous. You meet all sorts of folks in Dot's.
Lone Wolf
03-04-2007, 23:18
Heck, the last con artist I met was back in August, taking up residence in The Place in Damascus. Tried to hit my wife and me up for drinks by claiming to haved walked all of the 750 miles of the AT from Maine.
We let him go on until it was simply outrageous. You meet all sorts of folks in Dot's.
sorry about that. you're a trail rock star and i was just trying to impress. once again, i apologize.
Chris_Asheville
03-13-2007, 13:21
Sorry for continuing the thread LW, but I read the article this morning and was curious as to who met this guy along the trail..
Lone Wolf
03-13-2007, 13:29
Sorry for continuing the thread LW, but I read the article this morning and was curious as to who met this guy along the trail..
i never met him.
I would guess that the vast majority of cons on the run wouldn't find hiding out in the woods day after day to be very rewarding, let alone remotely comfortable.
Comfortable? Maybe more comfortable than jail...or maybe not? What does that make us backpackers? ;)
I would think it would be easier for a con to hide in a big city rather than in the relatively small, well connected trail community. After all, this guy was not that hard to find.
Usually criminals are lazy, hence their choice of crime to support themselves, and so it's rare for someone to hit the trail with the purpose of victimizing others when there are so many more potential victims in town. But every once in a while I suppose a criminal comes around who actually likes to hike. If your spidey-sense is tingling, always pay attention.