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Amy Sancetta / AP file
Bobby Thompson, who a federal marshal says is John Donald Cody, appears at a hearing in Cuyahoga County Court in Cleveland, May 8, 2012.
When he was arrested on April 30, the suspect known as Bobby Thompson had been on the run for nearly two years from charges that he ran a bogus charity that collected millions of dollars from people who thought they were helping out Navy veterans.
On Monday, federal authorities revealed that Thompson is really John Donald Cody, 65, a 1972 Harvard Law School graduate and Army veteran the FBI had long sought on numerous fraud charges related to a 1987 espionage probe.
U.S. Marshal Peter Elliott, head of the task force that found Thompson, said on Monday that he was doing Google searches for fugitives recently when landed on an old FBI wanted poster for Cody. Elliot noticed the man's resemblance to the suspect marshals had nabbed in the Ohio fraud case.
Cody, it turned out, had been charged but never arrested, so his fingerprints were not included in a nationwide FBI print database, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported on its website.
By obtaining Cody’s fingerprints from the Defense Department, Elliott was able to compare them with the prints taken after Thompson’s arrest. The suspect had served as a captain in U.S. military intelligence, Elliott said.
“Thank goodness for Google,” Elliott said in a news conference Monday announcing Thompson’s apparent unmasking, the Plain Dealer reported.
"This is definitely John Donald Cody," Elliott said. "He's a guy that thought, No. 1, he could never get caught, and No. 2, he would never be identified. And we were able to do both."
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Cody graduated from the University of Virginia in 1969 and Harvard Law School in 1972 and practiced law in several states, Elliott said. Harvard confirmed to The Associated Press that a John Cody graduated from its law school in 1972.
The suspect known as Bobby Thompson was featured on television as one of “America’s Most Wanted” fugitives. He surrendered after a tip led to a Portland bar and marshals followed him home.
Thompson is now jailed in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, charged with 22 counts of theft, money laundering, tampering with records, engaging in corrupt activity and other charges. He ran the national charity out of Tampa, Fla., with fake officers and state chapters and opened up numerous bank accounts and rented mailboxes to pull of the scheme, according to Ohio authorities.
An associate of Thompson’s, Blanca Contreras, of Tampa, Fla., was sentenced to five years in prison in August, 2011, in connection with the charity scam.
Thompson’s attorney, Joseph Patituce, told The Associated Press he is preparing for a March 11 trial. "We believe that the state has a very weak case against our client, but we look forward to our day in court," he said.
According to authorities, little of the money collected to benefit veterans through the U.S. Navy Veterans Association was used for that purpose. However, thousands of dollars was contributed to political candidates.
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Leave a Comment:
Hah! Another CEO plys his trade.
You morons don’t have a problem with bunch of lawyers running this country? They
are nothing but a bunch of worthless C#ck S#cking scam artist!.. freaken
amazing I can’t believe you guys are arguing over who’s a$$ clown is better?
You losers! Those SOB's have ruined this country from the inside out and have
run it into the ground!
AND they didn’t have to break a law to do it! They
simply exploited our honor system and have absolutely 0 remorse for the
fleecing of America!
THANK YOU SIR/MADAME~ Lieyers are the bane of all God FEARING and LOVING PEOPLE! In Israel back in Jesus' day they were called Pharisees, and they are the ones who put HIM to DEATH!
5 years in prision. Now where near enough time.
Almost the money he donated to politicians went to Republicans. You can easily find pictures online of Bobby Thompson standing next to George W Bush, speaker Boehner, Karl Rove, Rudy Guliani and others. If he was still running his scam today he would be strong Mitt Romney supporter.
engaging in corrupt activity
Hmmmm.....that charge covers nearly all the politicians world-wide.....
No truer words were ever written.
Thought only Harvard produced mainly Wall St thieves who specialize working in the market and stealing from the government and it's people ?? I guess they are branching out to control it also...!!!!
Like SOME OF US SAID IN THE 60'S: ~ Comes the Revolution the first thing WE the People gotta do is off all the LIEYERS!
What is this???? Some sort of Harvard thing???? Elitists cheating the general public???? An entire class of elitists caught cheating???? The entitlement only goes to show that we are being subjected to the fourth or fifth generation of 'old money' sociopaths and 'new money' wannabe's. Bet the scholarship students didn't cheat. This birds eye view into the youth of the 10% that caused this depression goes to show that the 10% and their offspring need to be reined in and placed in prisons where they can be watched 24/7 and the 90% can be protected from their global criminal activity that is affecting the majority. Electing a Cultist for the Austere Party is like dumb and dumber, how many will bow down to the ones they serve?
Harvard Law/Business Schools need a Wall of Shame!!!
Harvard university uses taxpayer money to educate illegal immigrants. They like to play god with your dough if you are a us taxpayer.
Before you point out its a private college - understand they do receive money from the US Govt. It is also the basis of every students financial award, so likely they scam through the grants program too.
Many of our most prestigious crooks went to harvard. I think these days its just a training ground for elite theives. big deal, telling themselves they are smarter than everyone else doesn't make it so, and to talk to some, you know for certain it is not true. But, they had the money and connections.
Just kill him.