Dodger fan seen on TV at 2016 game looks like fugitive 23 years ago convicted of $ 353 million bank fraud

A convicted fraudster on the US Marshals’ 15 Most Wanted list may have been spotted during a Los Angeles Dodgers game in 2016 and the agency is now asking the public for help in locating him .

A fan watching the game from home saw someone resembling John Ruffo, who has been on the run for 23 years after being convicted of a $ 353 million bank fraud in Virginia. He is believed to have escaped with $ 13 million that was never recovered from the scheme.

Ruffo, now 66, a former computer salesman, was sentenced to 17.5 years in prison in what the US Marshals have called “one of the biggest banking scams in American history” .

Ruffo’s own adviser Carmine Pascale of New Hampshire reported the possible Dodgers sighting to the US Marshals, according to ABC News. He said he saw a familiar face sitting four rows behind home plate as the Dodgers faced the Boston Red Sox on August 5, 2016.

US Marshalls seek help identifying a fan (left) at the 2016 Los Angeles Dodgers game who looks like fugitive John Ruffo (right)

A fan watching the Dodgers from his home reported seeing a man in four rows behind the plate who looked like John Ruffo, a fugitive on the US Marshals’ 15 most wanted list.

US Marshals ask public for help in locating John Ruffo, on the run for 23 years

He was convicted of a bank fraud of $ 353 million and sentenced to 17 and a half years in prison, but escaped with $ 13 million.

“I’m looking and just behind the plate they took a close up of the batter and there’s Johnny,” he told ABC News. “And I said,” Holy Christ, there he is. And I immediately called the marshals. I froze the frame, I kept it right in front of me. ”

Ruffo was posted $ 10 million bail and ordered to report to a New Jersey federal prison in 1998, but he never showed up. He was last seen the same day in surveillance footage withdrawing money from an ATM in Queens and investigators discovered he was driving a car which he parked at the John F. Kennedy Airport.

Since then, several sightings of Ruffo have been reported, but the ATM sequence is the last one confirmed. Ruffo’s case will be reviewed in the upcoming second season of the ABC News podcast, “Have You Seen This Man.”

“What’s worse is when you don’t have a resolution,” Deputy Marshal Danielle Shimchick, lead investigator for the Ruffo case, told ABC News. “That’s what bothers me, is you don’t know, is it him or not?” The images of the Dodgers, is that him? Is that Ruffo? Or is it not?

Pascale said Ruffo “was hiding in plain sight”. he said. ‘Face, confident. “They’re not going to get me. Catch Me If You Can.”‘

Deputy Pat Valdenor, a Los Angeles-based marshal, followed the initial advice and noted that it is rare to get one accompanied by video evidence. According to Valdenor, the resemblance was “strong”.

‘It looks like him. It could be him, ”he told ABC News. “So that was my starting point. It is the advance that I had.

After contacting the Dodgers, Valdenor discovered the man was sitting in Section 1 Dugout Club, Row EE, Seat 10.

Ruffo was ordered to report to a New Jersey federal prison in 1998, but never showed up and was last seen withdrawing money from an ATM in the Queens.

Investigators discovered he was driving a car he parked at John F. Kennedy Airport

Michelle Darringer, the team’s risk management manager, recalled that the US Marshals contacted her to help find the ticket holder. “Our receptionist called me saying, ‘There are US Marshals here. They want to see you, “she told ABC News.” I remember them telling me he was one of the most wanted people. … It was advice that this person had been to the game and had to try to confirm it.

However, Valdenor found himself in a bind after identifying who bought the ticket, as the original holder sold it. For such a privileged seat, the ticket could have passed through several people before reaching the man who was sitting there that day.

“It’s getting frustrating,” he told ABC News. “Especially every time you get a name you think it’s going to be this one. Or at least one more step. And in this particular case, every name I got, every name I checked off is one more step.

Investigators are now asking the public for help and posting a photo of the game as the Dodgers prepare to play in the National League Wild Card game on Wednesday.

“The public is by far our greatest resource,” said Nick Proffitt, US Marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a statement to the public. “We ask for your help in disseminating the photo of this fugitive so that we can collect it. He’s been on our top 15 most wanted list for 20 years, and it’s time for John Ruffo to pay his debt to society.

The US Marshals believe Ruffo has a new identity and previously used many known US Marshals aliases, including Joseph Ruffo, John Russo, Jack Nitz, Bruce Gregory, John Peters, and Charles Sanders.

He is believed to have had multiple international connections since his time as a New York businessman and spent time in Aruba and Italy before being sentenced. Investigators said it could be anywhere in Europe, the Caribbean, Central America or South America.

“The world is a lot smaller today than when Ruffo fled,” US Marshals Service Director Donald Washington said in a press release. “All we need is a tip to catch up with Ruffo. Right now, he’s probably well established and comfortable regardless of the alias he lives under. It could be anywhere on the globe.

Ruffo is five feet and five inches tall and weighed around 170 pounds in 1998. He is described as a “master manipulator” and storyteller who “loved to stretch the truth”, with a “desire to impress others”. Investigators added that he is lactose intolerant, computer savvy and enjoys good wine, gambling and good hotels.