Pregnant panhandler drives off in Mercedes-Benz

A woman in California was heartbroken when she saw a pregnant mother begging for money on a street corner -- but then she saw something that turned her sympathy into outrage.

"She sits there with the sign. He goes and parks the Mercedes. They put up the sign, and not less than five minutes here she is getting money from all these people ... They were leaving and I noticed they were getting into a Mercedes Benz. I thought, 'Wow! A Mercedes Benz?'"

Melissa Smith says she's seen the woman and her son stand on the corner with a "Please Help" sign multiple times, but when she saw them climb into a very nice car, she decided to investigate.

She followed the family to another spot, and when the woman took out her sign, Melissa started taking pictures. It didn't go so well.

"She picks up this big boulder about this big, goes over her head. I don't know if pregnant people can do that? but it was pretty big over her head and coming at me with this rock."

Fortunately Melissa wasn't hurt. ABC's KGTV says the license plate was traced back to a woman with an Escondido apartment complex address.

Residents told the station it costs $2,400 a month to live at the complex. According to police, the family has not been reported by anyone else since Melissa's encounter.

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