R.I. Official Resigns, Accused Of Dressing Man As Elderly Woman For Photo-Op
CRANSTON, R.I. (CBS) — A Rhode Island official is getting dressed down for having a middle-aged man dress up as an elderly woman – and she went as far as to include him in a photo op.
The official, Sue Stenhouse, the city's Director of Senior Services, wanted to include an elderly woman in an announcement about a snow-shoveling program in Cranston, and at first it appeared things went as planned.
She had lipstick, earrings, and a wig. But the woman wearing a name tag that said "Cranston Senior Home Resident" neither a resident at the home nor a woman.
Stenhouse rolled out the Snow Angel program last week allowing teens to get involved by helping the elderly shovel snow.
"This is one of my most favorite projects," Stenhouse told the crowd during the press conference.
It appeared the event was planned out. Snow from the ice rink was brought in and there were plenty of shovelers to stand front and center. The only thing missing were actual senior citizens.
So someone made the decision to dress up the senior center's van driver, David Roberts, to pose as an elderly woman.
Even Mayor Allan Fung had no idea about the disguise until later on.
But no one seems to know why the decision was made.
Roberts picked up part of his disguise at Elaine Mancuso's hair salon in town.
"He said to me, 'I need to have gray hair, curly,'" she told WJAR-TV. "Dave usually drives the senior citizens in to the salon. So he said, 'Elaine, do you have a wig I could borrow? I have to get dressed as a senior.' So I saw the story and I went, 'Oh my God, I can't believe that he wanted it for that.'
"I would have given him a better wig had I known," she joked.
Stenhouse resigned when the ruse came to light and has not had any comment. One of the mayor's aides also declined comment saying it was a personnel matter.
Two city councilmen told The Providence Journal they believe the stunt was meant to deceive the public.