OWS Protester Featured on Colbert Report Outed as Scam Artist Forger

Remember the OWS protestor, Justin Wedes, who along with his sanity-challenged companion, Ketchup, was featured on the Colbert Report as a spokesman for the Occupy Wall Street movement? Camera hog Wedes was notable for his massive self-righteous chip on the shoulder which caused him to give "down twinkles" to what he claimed as the moral failings of the "One Percent."

Well, down twinkles to Wedes himself who has been exposed in the New York Post as a scam artist forger who tried to cheat the taxpayers out of nearly $5000 for a government grant despite the fact that his "One Percent" family from the plush Michigan neighborhood of Huntington Woods could easily afford to just give him that money:

A leader of Occupy Wall Street abruptly quit his job as a city public school teacher after getting caught red-handed falsifying time sheets, The Post has learned.

Former South Brooklyn Community HS science teacher Justin Wedes, who often rails against corporate greed and corruption, “cut and pasted’’ the signature of a supervisor onto his time sheets while applying for a national education grant, Special Schools Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon found.

And when Wedes was confronted with his forgery scam, his moral high horse balloon quickly deflated:

The paperwork was tied to a $4,725 AmeriCorps grant that Wedes, a second-year New York City teaching fellow, sought through the City University of New York. An official there who reviewed Wedes’ application said it looked like he had forged the signatures, the report said.

When Condon’s investigators first questioned Wedes about the allegation, he responded, “I don’t want to talk about it now.” He requested legal representation.

Mr. Down Twinkles Wedes had an incredibly lame self-justification for his forgery scam:

Shortly after being questioned by Condon’s probers, Wedes told a school official he forged the supervisor’s signature on the time sheets because he “probably would have signed them anyway,” the report said.

After being caught in the trap like a rat, the cornered Wedes desperately tried to involve someone else in his scam rather own up to his dirty deed:

He tried to get at least one other South Brooklyn HS administrator to sign the paperwork so he wouldn’t lose the grant. The official declined to do so because of the probe.

Finally Wedes was forced to resign before being fired:

His resignation prevented his likely firing.

It remains to be seen if his exposure as a forger trying to cheat his way to unearned government bucks will affect the news coverage of him. Although he has been getting favorable mentions in the press in the past such as this New York Times article from November, the future does not look so bright for him since the same newspaper also spotlighted his outing as a scam artist:

And The New York Post reports that a former South Brooklyn Community High School science teacher, Justin Wedes, who is a leader of the Occupy Wall Street protests, “cut and pasted’’ the signature of a supervisor onto his time sheets while applying for a national education grant, according to an investigation by Richard Condon, the special schools commissioner of investigation. He has resigned.

So perhaps Justin Wedes has attained his dream of becoming prominent in the news. However, instead of being known as a leader in the OWS movement who downtwinkles One Percenters, he has been publicly branded as what he really is...a self-serving scam artist who has no qualms about cheating the public.

Hey Time Magazine.  Here is your Person of the Year!