‘Panhandlers’ Sent to Jail for Stealing Wallet

A man and a woman who posed as penniless travelers to obtain money from sympathetic Los Angeles area residents were sentenced to jail Tuesday for stealing a wallet containing $960 from a Reseda woman.

Jeffrey Dwayne Allman, 31, received a year in jail, while his companion, Tracy Chris Hartland, 24, was sentenced to nine months.

In addition, Van Nuys Superior Court Judge Kathryne Ann Stoltz placed the pair--dubbed by authorities as the “Yuppie Panhandlers”--on three years probation each and ordered them to make restitution to the victim, Anne Hitt, 69.

They are already serving jail terms imposed Feb. 24 by a Los Angeles Municipal Court commissioner.

Authorities began calling Allman and Hartland the “Yuppie Panhandlers” after they were arrested and it was learned that they managed a West Hollywood apartment house.

“They look like the boy and girl next door,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Phil Rabichow, the prosecutor in the wallet theft.

After pleading guilty in Los Angeles Municipal Court, Allman was sentenced to 15 months in jail and Hartland received nine months for conning more than 300 people into handing over sums of money ranging from $10 to $100.

Authorities said the couple claimed to be stranded travelers and to need the money for food or transportation home, when actually they were using it for drugs and living expenses.

Stoltz ruled that Tuesday’s sentences be served concurrently with those in the Los Angeles case.

In a preliminary hearing, Hitt, a bail bond agent, said she was approached by Allman as she stood outside a Reseda restaurant June 26. She said he told her that Hartland was his pregnant wife and that their car had been burglarized. He asked for $30 to help them return to Merced, Hitt said.

Hitt said she offered Allman $10 and then, at his request, rummaged in her purse for more money. Allman grabbed the wallet and jumped into a waiting car driven by Hartland, authorities said.

Hitt reported the theft after seeing Allman’s picture on a television news report.

On Jan. 31, Allman pleaded guilty in Van Nuys Superior Court to the grand theft charge and Hartland pleaded guilty to being an accessory to the theft.

At the time of the couple’s arrest in August, they were aspiring actors who earned as much as $200 an hour playing on the emotions of Good Samaritans in parking lots from Malibu to Pasadena, authorities said.