US Marshals suspect most-wanted fugitive was at 2016 Dodgers game
The U.S. Marshals Service introduced that federal investigators imagine John Ruffo, a fugitive on the most-wanted checklist for the previous 23 years, could have been among the many 50,000 individuals who attended a Los Angeles Dodgers sport in 2016.
The Marshals Service provided a $25,000 reward and issued a press release saying it is “asking for the general public’s help to determine a 2016 Dodgers sport attendee who investigators say strongly resembles a 15 Most Needed fugitive who has been on the run since November 1998.”
The sport on Aug. 5, 2016, a 9-0 Dodgers’ loss to the Boston Crimson Sox, has video footage highlighting a person who appears to be like much like Ruffo amongst followers cheering behind residence plate. The Marshals Service launched a picture that zeroes in on Ruffo within the stands. He was sitting in Part 1 Dugout Membership, Row EE, Seat 10. U.S. Marshals in Virginia had gotten a tip in 2016, and an ABC Information Investigates podcast just lately revealed the information.
“Investigators say public help with the identification of this man is significant, and that whether it is Ruffo, he’s probably utilizing an alias,” the U.S. Marshals workplace wrote.
Ruffo, now 66, was convicted in 1998 one of many largest financial institution fraud scams in American historical past – valued at $350 million. The Marshals Service referred to as Ruffo a “grasp manipulator” and stated about $13 million of the cash Ruffo stole was by no means recovered. Ruffo and several other different accomplices tricked the banks into financing a pretend analysis venture they claimed was for the tobacco firm.
He was sentenced to 17½ years in jail however had remained free on bail. As a substitute of reporting to a New Jersey federal jail in November 1998, he fled by way of a New York airport. The final confirmed sighting of Ruffo, earlier than the Dodgers sport, was utilizing an airport ATM at that airport in ’98.