‘Poor’ American nabbed for soliciting donations

An American  who ended up penniless in Cebu  was arrested for trying to solicit money from different establishments using a letter stamped with the seal of the office of  Vice Gov. Agnes Magpale.

Presented yesterday at the vice governor’s office, 54-year-old Johnny Betts  of Las Vegas, Nevada, asked for forgiveness.

He  said he  just wanted to raise enough money to go back to the USA after his Filipina wife left him.

But Vice Governor Magpale said  she wanted him charged for misleading people at her expense.

In his solicitation letter, Betts wrote that he needed P10,000 to return  to the USA.

Magpale, in a press conference,  said Betts came to her office last Sept. 23 with a letter addressed to her but she wasn’t around.  A staff member took pity on him and gave him P100.

The foreigner also visited Cebu City Vice Mayor  Edgardo Labella’s office last Sept. 3.

Betts had been going around Cebu City asking for money from Shopwise and Rose Pharmacy in barangay Mambaling with the same solicitiation letter stamped with the seal of the office of the vice governor.
(Magpale explained that as a policy, any letter that reaches her office is stamped “received”.)

In his letter, Betts said he was “fooled” by his Filipina wife who eventually left him.

He  said he sent her P100,000 every year for five years and  the final installment of his military pension of P250,000.

Betts said he  used to live in Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, married a Filipina in 2008 and that they had  a son born in 2011.

He said he would have been financially stable but  his wife left their conjugal home without informing him.

Betts said he  found out  later that his wife was living with another partner and that the couple now have  three children.

He said he also learned that their son  died from congenital heart disease.

In his letter dated Sept. 3, 2015, Betts said that his child was born in 2011, which did not jive with his later statement that  he found out the child died “five years ago.”

If this was true, the child would have died in 2010 or 2009.

The vice governor said  that even if she was sorry for him, she was determined to press charges against Betts “if only to stop him” from going to other  establishments to solicit money.

Magpale said she plans to have the foreigner investigated after she found out that Betts came to her office earlier with a 2-year-old girl, whom he described as  his adopted daughter.

Magpale is at the forefront of child protection issues as co-chairperson of the Provincial Womens Commission.

She said that according to the U.S. Homeland Security, Betts had  been  charged with other cases including misdemeanor and simple theft.