Halton Regional Police Det. Sgt. Murray Drinkwalter said a report was filed by the parade committee saying that a man, woman and two or three children presented themselves along the parade route as collecting funds on behalf of the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto.

Parade committee secretary-treasurer Mike Ricker said the only people authorized to collect money were members of the Rotary Club of Milton, who were doing so to defray parade costs. They were identifiable by their blue Rotary vests and they carried pails bearing the parade logo.

Rotary member Carolyn Keyworth said she was helping collect money when some people told her they’d already given to someone collecting for the Hospital for Sick Children.

Keyworth said she then saw a man collecting money with a girl who seemed about 10 or 12 years old, and she confronted him. He told her he was authorized by the parade committee, and he had with him some of the Milton Santa Claus Parade cash envelopes being distributed by Rotarians. He was wearing identification indicating he was a member of the Ontario Society for the Disabled, on which neither Keyworth nor the Champion could find any information.

As she continued to question the man, he became “quite belligerent,” Keyworth said, and the girl began to cry. He then took off with the girl.

Pamela Osorio-Kettle, development assistant at the Sick Kids Foundation, said nobody registered to collect money for the Toronto hospital at the Milton parade and no funds have been turned in.

Ricker said the situation has cast a pall over an otherwise successful event. Weather was perfect, floats were top notch and Ricker said he thinks more people attended this year than ever before.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time such an incident has been reported at the Milton Santa Claus Parade. Two years ago, people were also said to be collecting money fraudulently.

“We should’ve been more ready,” Ricker said.

Safeguards including having more organizers walk the parade to keep an eye on things were put in place two years ago, Ricker said, but it isn’t possible to see everything that goes on.

People collecting fraudulently at parades is a common occurrence, Drinkwalter said.

“You have this in every Santa Claus parade in every jurisdiction,” he said. “You have people taking advantage of the generosity (of others).”

Ricker said the Milton Santa Claus Parade can’t afford to lose any of its revenue, particularly since it receives no money from the Town of Milton.

At least 30 per cent less than the average from the previous three years was collected at this year’s parade, Ricker said; normally, organizers can count on at least $5,000, while this year they took in just $3,700.

The funds collected on the route make up about 10 to 15 per cent of the parade’s income, Ricker said, with the other money coming from float entries and corporate sponsors.

Stephanie Hounsell can be reached at sthiessen@miltoncanadianchampion.com .