US Marshals were wrong about a baseball fan. Apparently, they thought they found the man they had been looking for—John Ruffo was seen in the stands of a 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers game.
But federal authorities determined it was not him.
Marshals asked for public assistance in identifying the man seen at the game against the Boston Red Sox because they felt he looked like Ruffo. Luckily, they were able to track the man to a City of Angels suburb, the New York Post reported.
“You can clearly see the difference between the fingerprints,” Deputy Pat Valdenor told the outlet. “Even without the fingerprints, there was the birth certificate, and I had his whole family in front of me — three generations. I could see it wasn’t Ruffo.”
Ruffo, who is now 66, vanished from New York City in 1998. He was supposed to turn himself in to start his 17-year bid for defrauding a bank of $353 million. He was last seen withdrawing money from an ATM in Queens.
He also rented a car that was found in the long-term parking lot of JFK Airport. Authorities believe he traveled overseas and haven’t been able to recover about $13 million from the money he stole.
Ruffo’s cousin tipped authorities off about the man who had a striking resemblance to the suspect.
There is a $25,000 reward for information that leads to Ruffo’s arrest.
Discover more from Baller Alert
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
