RFP Staff
♦ Salisbury’s most famous panhandler and Chief Rory Collins’s half-brother, Tony Michael Rippey, Jr., 51, often characterized as a “non descript white man” from the streets of Salisbury, is enjoying the holidays at the Rowan County Detention Center after being arrested on Sunday for an alleged assault on a female (misdemeanor).
Mr. Rippey is frequently observed panhandling along Main Street in Salisbury and in the Tinseltown shopping area where he sizes marks for his standard tale of being Chief Rory Collins’s “brother” and needing “gas money” to get back home. He also “works” Salisbury’s Fulton Heights area allegedly doing “lawn work”. People living in the area caution others never to pay him in advance.
This holiday season he will enjoy 3 squares, with the accent on ham and cheese, and a warm cot.
Mr. Rippey has a lengthy history of crime in Rowan County and Texas. His record includes being charged with non support of child, larceny (Class H), misdemeanor assault on a female, drive w/out a valid driver’s license, and failure to appear/comply.
Chief Rory Collins, Ex-Housing Authority Security Guard, and soon to be Salisbury’s next golden parachute employee.
