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Spare Change Guy nabbed for subway fare evasion - and not registering as a sex offender

By adamg on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:11pm
John Bubier

Transit Police report arresting John Bubier, 60, around 9 a.m. today at Andrew Square after officers say they watched him piggyback through a fare gate behind a paying T rider and then discovered he had failed to register as a Level 3 sex offender.

Bubier, originally from Framingham, but best known for his croaking pleas for change in Downtown Crossing, was convicted of indecent assault and battery in 2011.

Just yesterday, Bubier appeared in Boston Municipal Court to answer to a probation violation after a recent arrest for disturbing the peace in Chelsea. The judge let him free until a September hearing on the matter.

Innocent, etc.

Neighborhoods: 
South Boston
Topics: 
Crime
The T
Free tagging: 
Spare Change Guy
Red Line
Andrew Square


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Comments

By Ishmael Jones on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:18pm.

Looks good for his age.

By Finn on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:18pm.

So much for his TV career...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpWgCqvGUbg

By Karl on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 8:17pm.

FOX 25 claimed copyright and took it down...

By anon on Wed, 08/27/2014 - 11:51am.

will Fox lose because a NEWS CLIP is on YouTube? Answer - NONE!

YouTube's insanely paranoid deletion policies are just another good example of why the copyright laws in this country are severely broken and need to be seriously reformed.

By BostonUrbEx on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:19pm.

I know the guy has followed women into restrooms and the like, in seeking spare change, but didn't realize he was a level 3. Must have committed something pretty serious...

Doeessss annnyyyyybodddyyyyy haaaave annnyyyy spaaaaaaaare chaaaaaange?

By The Frying Pan of Reality on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 2:44pm.

This guy really got in my face once when I tried to be nice. Most homeless people I run into have been okay, but not this guy. Avoid him and leave him to the professionals.

By deselby on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 6:49pm.

Level 3 is the lowest level. Things like indecent exposure.

Level 1 is for your serious rapists and child molesters.

By adamg on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 7:21pm.

Level 3 is the worst of the worst. You can look it up.

So Spare Change Guy is no longer just a character - he's a convicted sexual offender.

By gotdatwmd on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:25pm.

I used to think he had a voicebox from a tracheotomy but nope.

By trickycrayon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:34pm.

Think I was on the train with him yesterday. Was somewhat concerned he was possessed, by his voice. He sounded like he was saying something about if anyone was from Watertown...

By gregl on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 4:05pm.

Yeah, that's one of his bits. "Has anybody got some water? Is anybody here from Watertown?"

By Hyde_Parker on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:38pm.

Whoa. It's been several years since I've seen him and, wow, he has aged.

Though admittedly, even when I did see him, I didn't get a really good look at him.

By adamg on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 4:25pm.

The reason I know about his Boston Municipal Court appearance is because I sat next to him while we were awaiting hearings in the same courtroom (me for the Chinatown shootings, him for his probation issue).

He looked better than he does in the mug shot.

By mdecast on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 6:37pm.

He frequents the merrimac street and new chardon street areas quite a bit. Early mornings I've seen him sitting in some doorways on friend street, causeway and canal st. He gets around a lot.

He may have a foot fetish. He one time told a girl more than a few times that her feet were beautiful.

By nbaugh on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 10:53pm.

I see that guy all the time in Downtown Crossing near Park St. and he pretty much looks the same most of the time and never quite as rough as this mug shot.

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:50pm.

The Transit police do a great job picking them off but the courts put them back on the subway before the next day. Wait till school starts and the subway sex sharks start their hunting season.

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 5:45pm.

Shut off Nancy Grace and join reality please.

By Cappy on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:51pm.

I literally can not wait to point and yell

"HEY LEVEL THREE SEX OFFENDER! HOWYADOIN!!!"

Does that make me a bad person?

Probably.

By Cappy on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 1:52pm.

Just about every day somewhere in DTX.

http://cappyinboston.blogspot.com/

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 3:37pm.

remember "The Judge" in the Common.

and is "Change for a family of six(sometimes seven)" still working her magic?

John would always start off: "Guyyyyzzzzz......."

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 4:27pm.

I'm wondering what has happened to the famous "I need food money today" woman, sometimes known as Garbage Bag Woman. She was a fixture on the Common at the Park Street entrance for years.

By adamg on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 5:09pm.

I think a social-services group finally took her away to get the help she seemed to need.

But I could swear she was back at Park Street yesterday: Cleaned up, in gray sweats, and sitting on the wall along Park Street, rather than right in front of Winter Street, with no shopping cart, but making the same rhythmic coin-shaking noises with a cup she had.

By Bebe on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 8:11am.

The woman with the 6/7 children died about two years ago of congestive heart failure. Many of her neighbors and friends held a memorial for her in a church near her home. There was a solid turnout. Someone put together a nice display of pictures of her in her youth and as a young woman. Many people told different stories about her and it was very touching.

By Cappy on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 6:44pm.

I remember them both. They are gone now.

The spare change woman is back and sitting behind the t-shirt cart at Park Street and shaking that cup.....all day.

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 2:00pm.

dye job on the hair and beard.

By Roslindaler on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 6:08pm.

After several years of thinking this guy was seriously mentally ill and homeless, I observed him walk into the lobby shop in my building and buy a number of scratch tickets. He did not appear impaired at all as he often does on the street.

By anon on Tue, 08/19/2014 - 10:41pm.

I've seen him buying scratch tickets often, sometimes with a bald dude in an army coat named Barry. Seriously, though, violating this guys probation for begging is like violating probation for breathing. This man is an artist! Let him work! I was once behind him in line for the bank and he went up to the teller and asked if he could have a dollar....because she had plenty of them. Brilliant!

By Sally on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 9:50am.

imply that he is not mentally impaired? It may mean that he's not starving but it doesn't really reflect his mental capacity.

He always seemed pretty benign to me until one day when he said something really lewd and ever since then I avoid him like the plague.

By gotdatwmd on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 11:05am.

Being a level 3 sex offender is some pretty strong evidence of diminished mental capacity.

By roadman on Wed, 08/20/2014 - 11:11am.

only proves that this guy is mathematically impaired.