E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
US Marshalls
'Bobby Thompson'
A man who set up a charity to help U.S. Navy veterans and collected millions of dollars in donations before he vanished was arrested by federal authorities in Oregon on Monday.
The suspect known as Bobby Thompson, who also went by the alias Ronnie Brittain, was featured on television as one of “America’s Most Wanted” fugitives. He surrendered after a tip led to a bar in Portland. Thompson was followed home and arrested, Ohio’s attorney general and the U.S. marshal announced on Tuesday.
Thompson claimed to be a retired Navy officer, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, when he started a charity called the United States Navy Veteran’s Association. The supposed charity collected nearly $2 million from Ohio residents and millions more from 40 other states since 2001.
He is accused in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, of 22 counts of theft, money laundering, tampering with records, engaging in corrupt activity and other charges. An associate of Thompson’s, Blanca Contreras, of Tampa, Fla., was sentenced to five years in prison in August, 2011.
According to the Associated Press, the charity made a few contributions that benefited veterans, however public records show hundreds of thousands of dollars in contributions were made to political candidates in several states. The motivation behind those contributions were unknown.
Mark Duncan / AP
As Ohio Attorney General Mike Dewine looks on, right, U.S. Marshal Pete Elliot announces the arrest in Portland, Ore. of a fugitive who went by the alias Bobby Thompson at a news conference Tuesday, May 1, 2012, In Cleveland. Thompson is accused of running a scam that collected millions of dollars in donations from people who believed they were helping U.S. Navy veterans. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
Thompson skipped town in the summer of 2010 when the charity was exposed as being a fraud and has been on the run since. His true name remains a mystery.
"We still don't know the true identity of the man known as Bobby Thompson, who has used the identity of several other people throughout the years," Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said in a statement.
Thompson was expected to be moved to Ohio in the coming days.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- Occupy activists fear becoming Democrats' 'pet'
- Video: Woman, 81, uses hand sanitizer to fend off pit bull
- Bin Laden's lair: Hatching plots with no one to execute them
- Mom, son killed in separate car accidents hours apart
- Anarchists nabbed in alleged plot to bomb Ohio bridge
- EPA official resigns over 'crucify' philosophy
Leave a Comment:
I was happily surprised to see that part of the funds did indeed go to veteran causes.
There are far too many "legal" charities that skim way too much administration expense from the top. Perhaps they should be better regulated.
I would only donate to charities endorsed by Veterans Affairs or the services.
It is pretty low to invoke helping veterans to perpetrate a fraud like this. In the current economy, charitable donations are hard enough to come by. To find out someone was using a charity front like this to steal money for his own purposes is disgusting. There are many veterans out there who need help and to think that some of them may not have gotten that help because this guy was diverting money meant to help them is completely unacceptable. I am glad they caught him and I hope this guy gets a very long prison sentence to think about what he has done. Part of his sentence should include many hours of community service working to help veterans after he is released from prison.
There are very very few charities that actually give a great percentage to actually help those they say they are helping. Most times the smaller charities do a much better job of giving a greater percentage and actually trying to see that those that need help get it. The biggest rip off charity IMO has to be the red cross AND I would never never donate anything to them. I would rather see my money go to a local charity then to a group with overpaid heads that wants to build a new phone bank from donations specifically designated to help an area.
No matter what little bit of percentage he actually gave to help vets, he's still a FUGGING SCUMBAG!! I hope he gets to be someones boytoy in prison.
@ bluthunder, the biggest ripoff out there is probably the United Way. Their executives compensation packages are outrageous. Look it up.
Happily surprised??? Most of the money NEVER went near any real vet's..please re-read the St Pete paper series...
Yes dubldoc,
I was surprised that he actually gave some of the money to veterans causes and that surprise did not make me unhappy. Is it that hard to follow?
Red cross, United Way and Feed The Children, not one of them any better then the other
You do something like that and there aint no place to run or hide.
Scam 101. Split the loot with the politicians. They always come in handy when the fuzz starts to snoop around. Bernie.
Actually, his scam ran 10 years till someone ratted him out.
That is NOT hilarious.
Whats not hilarious?
"Federal election records show he invested far more money -- more than $200,000 -- in campaign contributions to top Republican politicians, including President George W. Bush, U.S. Sen. John McCain, and the presumptive incoming Speaker of the House, John Boehner. In exchange, he received grip-and-grin snapshots with American political leaders -- the sort of photo that may be commonplace on office walls in Washington, DC, but looked to outsiders like evidence of an important man with heavy-duty connections."
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/major-gop-donor-scammed-millions-phony-veterans-group/story?id=12112157#.T6BsyFIeeOs
It would appear that he targeted GOP members, probably, like most Americans, he had knowledge of how stupid and gullible they are.
There are all kinds of scams like that out there. Generally there are organizations that charities can join and be transparent with their accounting. The even can be rated. I would not give to anybody that I can't check on. The problem is that there are these people out there to scam people who are very trusting as we would like to be but really can't be anymore.
I generally do not like to donate to groups claiming to be set up for the benefit of police, fire, or veterans because it is too hard to tell who is real and who is not. Unless I know the organization well I choose not to donate. Individuals like this only make it more difficult.
it is people like that who really piss me off.....only give to organizations who truly help..DAV/ VFW / Wounded Warrior Foundations / Heroes on the Water to name a few....
Wounded Warrior all the way!
heck yeah, i donate all my time to my brothers and sisters who gave more than sum
The men and women that really need and deserve our help are the combat disabled, except for those that have died defending freedom , no one has given more. People that post stupid inane comments regarding this subject are, in my mind, no better than the thieves and corrupt politicians that have stolen from our needy vetarens. Hang them all alive by their heels and let the rot.
Department of Veterans Affairs does NOT endorse any charities. They do work with several and accept donations from those offering. If you want to be certain an organization is giving to Veterans through VA, then contact your local VA's Voluntary Service office. They can tell you if the organization in question has ever donated to that facility. They can also canvas their colleagues across the country to find out if the organization actually does donate. In FY 2011, Americans donated over $90 million dollars in gifts and donations. Many of these go toward patient activities, Welcome Home Celebrations, Stand Downs, etc. If you'd like to know more about what you can do, visit www.volunteer.va.gov
With the job they do, or lack thereof, the Department of Veterans Affairs needs to be the recipient of charity.
Wassamatta, 'War Ranger', pissed you didn't get your 100% service connection from the taxpayers?? :-)
dubldoc.....think before you speak...unless you have dealt with the VA you have no clue what war ranger is talking about
@dubldoc,
Actually dumbass, I retired 5 months ago after 21 years active and 6 years reserve before that. I retire as an E-9 Sergeant Major. I'm pulling $4200.00 a month in benefits. That's at 87%. And for your info., service members do pay taxes also, as well as Social Security. I'm not receiving anything that I didn't put into. I'm 45 years old and I'll be getting that with yearly inflationary raises until the day I die. Ha! Ha! RETIRED AT 45! I'm playing a lot of golf!
dubldoc
re: post 8.2
What kind of BS comment is that? Do you think the Veterans recieving disability compensation at the 100% rate don't deserve it or have bullsh/tted their way into the rating? Why don't you just try applying for a disability rating from the VA without deserving it? Please point out to all of us those Veterans rated at 100% who don't deserve it. I suggest you take a walk through a VA hospital . By the way, you call yourself "dubldoc". In what? Art History? Comparative Religion? What?
@ War Ranger
Congrats on the retirement and good luck on the green. Hard earned- well deserved
.
@ dubldoc,
And who the hell said I was receiving disability? Not I! I just stated a fact that dealing with the VA is and can be a nightmare if you actually need it. I don't. I survived Panama, Desert Storm, advising in Kosovo, 3 X Iraq, and 2 X Afghanistan without a scratch. Call it luck or skill, ( I call it a little bit of both ). My monthly retirement comes from doing my 26+ and living through it. By your post, you show your true idiocy toward those who left some or all of themselves over there. I have no need for the VA. All my body parts are still attached and I can deal with reality just fine. Some vets don't. Unless you have been there and had to deal with it, keeping your pie-hole shut would make you seem like less of a dick, ( if that's possible, but I doubt it ).
@ Merlin,
Thanks buddy, but after 5 months of golf and yard work, I'm starting to get bored. I might have to go find a part time job. The retirement pay is O.K., but not really enough to travel the world.
Plus, my wife is getting mad that she goes to work and I go golfing.
Lets not forget that ALL of his donations were to right wing politicos, and he had some rather choice words about Dems and Obama. Funny how the faux 'conservatives' are many times just 'cons'.
I should have known you were a libtard.
This bum gave $55 thousand to Virginia Attorney General Cucchenelli and other state elected officials. When challenged, Cucchi said he was keeping the cash and that investigating this guy was not his job!!!! The GOP bless their black greedy hearts.
Thank you for blessing them. Hopefully they can run all those scumbag liberals out of the government sometime real soon! I guess when Democrats take shady donations, it's O.K. huh? But when someone else does it, you demand blood and retribution. Scamming the money in the name of vets was an abhorrent act. He did it for personal gain. No need to politicize it.
I never donate when I'm solicited by phone either. Nearly all of the phone contacts are actually from a business that takes at least 50% off the top.
Ah, for the days of the Keel Haul.
Calling this man Thompson a maggott is insulting to maggotts everywhere . . . he's the lowest of the low and I hope he remembers all the good times he had on the stolen money when Bubba gets a little amorous in the shared cell . . . it's truly pay-back time then!!
He looks like a member of either the Arian Nation or GOP, He's probably a member of both. He does LIE like Mittens Romney.
Your idiocy is showing. You might want to cover it up.
Don't waste the money to put him in jail. He can donate the rest of his life as a janitor at a VA hospital. Put an ankle bracelet on him, if he screws that up have him make sand the rest of his life.
Take every penny he has including but not limited to cash, bank accounts, properties, stocks, everything. Leave him only with one pair of shorts, t-shirt and shoes. Then take him to the deserts of Afghanistan and leave him in the middle of nowhere, no longer a US citizen. Let the idiot bake to death.
turn the bastard over to the Veterans he was supposed to help...peace of $hit
That's the best idea I've heard yet.
Well he went around spouting how great he is, I say we make him Earn It! Dip his ass in Agent Orange and feed him crap ass C- rats for a year. Oh yeah, he needs to get shot at , near blown to hell, and lose all perspective of any kind of humanity. Then we can lock his ass up for too long a time or until we all get over it. ( I wanna be one of the guys shooting at him, I volunteer!)
Hang the Bastard and any Politician who took money from him
Hang this SOB from the yard arm by his heels and let the sea gulls feast on his rotten carcass.
While I do not agree with your comments Warhorse on politics you've certianly earned the right to say them.Heartfelt congrats on your retirement from an old Vet.I hope you have many long happy years with your family and friends
Sorry for the error,War Ranger