He may have been just a good Samaritan.

But at least one Lawrence resident is worried that a man who offered to help last-minute taxpayers meet their filing deadline on Monday could have been a con artist in disguise.

LaVonne Marks, a Lawrence resident, was one of dozens of people who showed up late Monday night at the downtown post office, 645 Vt., only to discover it had closed at 7 p.m. instead of staying open until midnight as in previous years.

Marks said she was stunned to see a man in the crowd who was offering to collect people’s returns and drive them to a post office in Johnson County – and to see that some people were taking him up on his offer.

Marks said she hoped all the checks and Social Security numbers inside the envelopes reached their intended destination.

“Who in their right mind would have done that – given some total stranger their information?” Marks asked. “In all reality, maybe he was a totally honest, nice, helpful guy.

“He was just kind of the good old Joe. He had a plaid shirt on. He was chewing on a toothpick. He didn’t seem overly suspicious, but there was no way I was handing my stuff over to him.”

Marks said someone in the late-night crowd at the post office called police as a precaution and filed a report, but as of Tuesday no report had been released by police.

Postmaster Judy Raney said Tuesday that she wasn’t aware of the incident, but she said it was best to send mail by putting it in a secured drop slot.

“If they’re giving it to (a stranger), they’re taking their chances that it may or may not get mailed,” she said. “You’re opening yourself up to the possibility of some real problems there.”