Good Samaritan Gets Discouraging Lesson From Teen-Age Pair

Evelyn M. O’Neil, 66, got her car back Wednesday but not her faith in people.

Last week the retired nurses’ aide took a couple into her Mission Hills home after reading a newspaper story about their homeless plight. The couple stayed three days, then stole her car, her purse and much of her peace of mind.

“I’ve learned a lesson: Don’t take in strays of the human kind,” she said. “I fell for them hook, line and sinker. I really felt sorry for them then. Now what they did makes me feel awful.”

O’Neil’s car was returned a day after Los Angeles police arrested the couple driving it on Mulholland Drive in Tarzana. The car’s new paint was scratched and the side dented, so what had been a nicely restored 1967 Buick Riviera needs some restoring again. The final insult, O’Neil said, came when she had to pay a $68 impound-and-towing fee to get the car out of a police garage.

Detectives discovered that the couple whom O’Neil had taken in had been using phony names and ages. They were not the adults they had presented themselves to be but a 16-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy, both runaways from Van Nuys. Now they are being held at the Sylmar Juvenile Hall, where each is charged with auto theft, forgery and theft, police said.

“It’s a shame,” Detective Jim Atwell said. “This lady was being a Good Samaritan and they turn around and do this. It shows it is better to give to the organizations that help the homeless than to take the homeless in yourself. You never know who you are bringing in.”

O’Neil, who regularly takes in stray pets, said she read in the Daily News that the couple had been homeless nearly two years, then posted a note on a bulletin board at the Salvation Army center in Van Nuys inviting them to stay at her home. The couple, whose names were not released because of their ages, arrived Jan. 6.

‘Very Nice’ at First

“They had use of my whole house,” said O’Neil, who lives alone. “From the first time they came to the door they were very nice. They were kind to my animals. They took my dogs for walks.”

All seemed well until O’Neil awoke Sunday morning, opened her bedroom curtain and saw that her car was missing from the driveway. She then noticed that her purse--containing her house keys, some personal checks and $38--was gone as well. She said she hasn’t had a good night’s rest since.

O’Neil reported the thefts to police. On Tuesday morning, the stolen car was spotted on Mulholland Drive and the two juveniles were arrested. O’Neil’s other property and money has not been recovered. Atwell said O’Neil’s name was forged on one of the checks and the pair tried to cash it.

“They sure wrecked it up,” O’Neil said of her car. “It smells like a pool hall. They must have driven it into the woods, scratched and dented it up and had a beer party in it. The bad part is, I probably paid for the beer with the money that was in my purse.”