You wouldn't know it by looking at them, but some panhandlers in the Cheyenne area are making up to $100 per hour, according to a spokesman for the Cheyenne Police Department.

Officer Kevin Malatesta says that isn't true of every apparently homeless person who can be seen asking for money from Cheyenne residents.

But he says there are ''professional panhandlers" who travel from town to town and often can be seen in Cheyenne near the Walmart stores, busy truck stops or near businesses on Dell Range Blvd.

Malatesta says some of the professional panhandlers may  'look kind of grungy" or down on their luck, but he says they ''can easily make $50-$100 dollars an hour."

Malatesta says the professional panhandlers generally travel from city to city and tend to know the best locations to get money from passers-by.

Cheyenne Police Chief Brian Kozak says people shouldn't give money to homeless people for food in Cheyenne because there are a lot of local organizations in the area who feed them.

He says, in general, the money given to such people by well-meaning Cheyenne residents ends up going for drugs or alcohol, not food.

More From 101.9 KING-FM