A Joliet panhandler who continued to beg in the middle of a busy intersection despite warnings from the law kept it up until he got arrested, then went right back to it and got carted off again, police said.

Spiro Logothetis, 53, was first arrested shortly after 2 p.m. after he reportedly ignored warnings from Shorewood police officers to stop begging on Route 52 at the junction of Interstate 55.

Logothetis, a resident of the Town House Motel on Plainfield Road, posted bond and was set free, then apparently returned to the scene of the alleged crime and started begging money from motorists again. And he got arrested again, just before 4 p.m.

Once more, Logothetis posted bond, but this time apparently headed somewhere other than his panhandling spot on Route 52, police said.

Shorewood Police Chief Aaron Klima said panhandling had not been a problem in town, but in the last two months he's noticed about "a half-dozen" working the traffic coming off the interstate.

Klima said his officers generally do not arrest panhandlers. They offer rides to homeless shelters and sometimes dip into their own pockets to buy them a meal at McDonald's.

But if a panhandler such as Logothetis declines rides and ignores warnings, officers are left with little choice, particularly when the panhandler is in danger of getting run over on a busy street.

"He's out there walking in traffic and stumbling," Klima said.

"The guys don't have any malice toward them," the chief added. "It's a safety issue."