Fw: Breast-enhancement money a gift, she says ~ Times Union

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----- Original Message -----

From: " Ilena Rose " <ilena@...>

Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 1:15 PM

Subject: Breast-enhancement money a gift, she says ~ Times Union

> ~~~ thanks Chive ~~~

>

> http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/011502/met_8340887.html

>

> Tuesday, January 15, 2002

> Patron wants surgery loan payback

> Breast-enhancement money a gift, she says

>

>

> By Jessie-Lynne Kerr

> Times-Union staff writer

>

> To the Hooters waitress turned police officer, the $3,940 given to enlarge

> her breasts was a gift. But to the restaurant patron who picked up the

> surgery tab, it was a loan that has since come due.

>

> Now a judge is being asked to decide who is correct.

>

> Somchart " Nick " Fungcharoen, 53, filed a small-claims action against

> former waitress Gilpin, whom he told Duval County Judge Harold C.

> Arnold he met when he went to lunch at Hooters at The ville Landing

> in 1998.

>

> Fungcharoen, an engineer retired on disability from the Army Corps of

> Engineers, said Gilpin told him she was attending the police academy and

> expected to get hired by the Sheriff's Office.

>

>

> " She served me, and she was nice to me, " Fungcharoen said.

>

> Eventually she asked him if he would lend her the money for her breast

> enlargement, he said.

>

> " I asked her why she didn't ask her parents or her boyfriend for the

> money, " he testified yesterday during a non-jury hearing. " She said that

> they couldn't, but that it was OK with them if I did. "

>

> He said he agreed to lend her the money and took her to the surgeon,

> J. Obi, for the operation on March 16, 1999.

>

> Since then, Gilpin has avoided his phone calls, he said, and has refused

> to pay him any money.

>

> Gilpin testified that when Fungcharoen made the offer to pay for the

> procedure, she asked him why he would do that for her and what he wanted

> in return.

>

> " He said I had been a good friend to him and he wanted nothing in return, "

> Gilpin said. " He said he wanted me to feel better about myself. "

>

> Gilpin said she had the surgery and continued working at Hooters until

> October 1999, when she was hired by the Sheriff's Office. During those

> months, Fungcharoen continued to patronize Hooters and " he never mentioned

> it as a debt. "

>

> But Fungcharoen called Gilpin a liar and said she had promised to pay him

> back once she got hired as a police officer. He filed the small claims

> action against Gilpin late last year in an effort to collect the money.

>

> Fungcharoen told the judge he did not have a written agreement in which

> Gilpin promised to pay him.

>

> " She seemed to be a nice person, " he said. " I trusted her. "

>

> Arnold said he would issue a judgment in the case this week.

>

> The judge appeared alarmed when Fungcharoen said he used a

> government-issued credit card to pay the doctor. When shown the credit

> card, Arnold noted it read " for official government travel only. "

>

> " You paid for this breast enlargement with a government credit card? " the

> judge asked.

>

> " Yes, it's for traveling and emergency medical care, " Fungcharoen replied.

>

> " I assume you paid the government back? " queried the judge.

>

> " Yes sir, " said Fungcharoen.

>

> " OK, " the judge said. " Let's not go there. "

>

> Staff writer Jessie-Lynne Kerr can be reached at (904) 359-4374 or via

> e-mail at jkerr@....

>

>