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Cleveland hero Charles Ramsey says he’s broke and homeless

The famed rescuer of three girls in Ohio has recently blown through $50,000.

 

Chase Hoffberger

Internet Culture

Posted on Jul 16, 2013   Updated on Jun 1, 2021, 11:21 am CDT

Two months after saving three girls who’d been kidnapped and held captive in Ariel Castro’s basement, an Internet hero reports that he’s broke and homeless—and not at all an attractive candidate to employers or landlords.

Charles Ramsey, the entertaining Ohioan most famous for his profanity-laden press conference shortly after rescuing the three girls as well as his wild affinity for chowing down on McDonald’s cheeseburgers, told the Daily Mail Monday that he’s somehow plowed through $50,000 in 60 days. 

He also told the Daily Mail that he’s been fired from his job as a restaurant dishwasher because too many diners were coming through the kitchen after their meals to shake his hand and say hello.

“I’m broke, bro,” he said. “That’s the truth.”

Ramsey, who has a long history of domestic violence, said that he’s made more than $50,000 in “corporate speaking engagements” and money raised by private individuals since rescuing the girls two months ago. In that time, he’s purchased an $8,000 BMW and started a business that sells T-shirts with a sketch of his face on the front. The T-shirts sell for $25 a pop. Considering he’s broke, the venture has not been a fruitful one.

The man also reported that he was “shamed” out of his house shortly after the rescue by neighbors who “claim he exaggerated his role in the rescue of the girls.”

“I don’t have an address,” he said. “I don’t live anywhere. I go from house to house, to friend to friend, to family member to family member. What I’ve been doing for the past four weeks is wearing out my welcome with everybody who knows me. Some places I don’t think I’m allowed to go back. I don’t know. I don’t do nothing.”

Asked why he may be completely out of money, Ramsey deadpanned: “Money goes fast if you have bills.”

Photo via Charles Ramsey: Cleveland Hero/Facebook

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*First Published: Jul 16, 2013, 9:45 am CDT