A fugitive known as Bobby Thompson, accused of running a $100 million scam that collected donations for veterans of the Navy, has been identified as John Donald Cody. Cody would sign legal documents using the name Mr. X.
“John Donald Cody was never arrested; he was indicted. When somebody is arrested, they come into our custody and they are arraigned,” US Marshal Pete Elliott said. “There was no fingerprint from that time. The only prints we found were from 1969 that the FBI sent us.”
Vicki Anderson, an FBI spokeswoman, said, “When he reached out to us last week with this possibility then, yes, we assisted in identifying him. But up until that point, there was no reason to reach out to us.”
“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.”
Cody is a 1969 graduate of the University of Virginia and a 1972 graduate of Harvard Law School. He practiced at times at law firms across the country.
The attorney for Cody, Joseph Patituce, said that a trial is tentatively scheduled for March 11. “We believe that the state has a very weak case against our client, but we look forward to our day in court,” he said.