Does anyone know what panhandling is? Tom Brady knows.

A man who unwittingly stole two flower planters worth $8,000 from behind Tom Brady's Boston condominium says he has to panhandle to pay restitution.

Dennis Paiva told the Boston Herald he scours the streets for trash to sell. He says he took the planters from behind a condominium because they were next to the trash and sold them for $450.

Police caught him on surveillance video. The 61-year-old convicted bank robber says he had no idea they belonged to the New England Patriots quarterback.

He agreed to pay $4,000 restitution to Brady's real estate trust. But he says he can't work after recent surgery so he begs passers-by for money.

A Patriots spokesman said he doubts Brady is aware of Paiva's situation.

A convicted bank robber who says he had to panhandle to repay a debt to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady has had his debt erased by a local businessman.

Dennis Paiva was ordered by a court to pay $4,000 after selling Brady's expensive flower boxes for scrap metal, mistakenly believing they'd been put behind Brady's Boston condominium as trash in May 2008.

Dan Greenwald, the owner of a Burlington ad agency, said he decided to pay the restitution after reading about Paiva's plight in the Boston Herald on Friday.

Greenwald said it seemed as if Paiva, who says he can't work because of recent surgery, got "the rawest of raw deals."

The 61-year-old Paiva said Greenwald's gift was like "a dream come true."