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December292005

Wilfred Sheed: Swindled but unbowed

Filed under: Looked Into   Tagged: ,

Very distressing story in the NY Post. Selim Algar writes:


December 28, 2005 -- A home-care aide took advantage of the trust afforded him by an acclaimed Hamptons writer and his wife — using personal information and bank cards to steal their life savings, authorities charge.

Now former New Yorker and Esquire magazine writer Wilfrid Sheed may be forced to sell his tony home in the exclusive Hamptons town of North Haven.

Compounding his ordeal, Sheed, who celebrated his 75th birthday yesterday from a hospital bed, may never walk again after a recent recurrence of polio. The mounting stress, he said, even threatens his ability to write and complete his latest work.

But through it all, the National Book Award nominee has maintained possession of his most precious assets — spirit and humor.

"He [the suspect] did put in an air conditioner for us — maybe that will make it easier to sell the house," Sheed joked to The Post yesterday from his hospital bed.

Tristan MacLeod, 34, of Queens, was arrested last month and charged with stealing $58,000 from Sheed and his wife, Miriam Ungerer.

Sheed told The Post yesterday he and his wife, a cookbook writer and noted food authority, needed some basic assistance with their daily chores. They met MacLeod through an acquaintance and before long he was living in their home. He served as a driver, bought groceries and helped around the house.

According to police, MacLeod was soon making cash withdrawals with Sheed's ATM card and opening up accounts using the author's personal information. Credit cards were used to buy expensive electronic items, which MacLeod would allegedly sell on the streets of Manhattan.

The couple noticed unfamiliar withdrawals on their bank statements and alerted police that MacLeod had suddenly disappeared in October. Cops arrested him on Nov. 17.

"I guess I shouldn't have been so trusting," Sheed said from Southampton Hospital. "I really tend to think people, in general, are good."

The incredible financial shock, Sheed said, was compounded by a recent resurgence of the polio that attacked him in his youth. His old enemy, he said, now threatens his ability to walk.

"I might be in a wheelchair the rest of my life," he said. "It's just been so many problems at once."

I think the magazines should organize a benefit. Here's Sheed on Thurber.

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