"Bobby Thompson," (not his real name) the founder of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, is now wanted in Ohio on identity theft, money laundering and corruption charges.

Word is filtering out of Washington this afternoon that ABC News is planning a big story tonight on the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and it’s on-the-lam founder, ‘Bobby Thompson.’

So far as I know, they haven’t done anything on it yet. Sounds like a Veteran’s Day Eve feature to me — on America’s Most Wanted “Veteran” (ahem).

This will put pressure on Thompson like he hasn’t felt since this whole story of his scam broke, back in March, in the St. Petersburg Times.

In honor of the heat Bobby’s about to feel, let’s have a pool on the number of days it’ll be before authorities grab him.

I predicted he’ll be taken into custody Friday.

Anyone have other guesses? It’s almost too much to hope for that they’d catch him on Veterans Day.

Ohio Attorney General's Office

A new photograph of ‘Bobby Thompson,’ the campaign contributor with a dicey pedigree, has emerged, and this one calls into question the notion that the alleged con man was merely a generous donor with a fetish for having his picture taken alongside notable GOP politicians.

It’s with Karl Rove, the former presidential aide and GOP strategist responsible for engineering President George W. Bush’s re-election in 2004.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

Edwards said he had not seen the picture of Thompson with Rove, and when told about it, reacted with surprise: “Rove? Oh my God. He’s a strategist. That would put the commander in a different category as someone who was not just some donor.”

A spokeswoman for Rove responded by e-mail to a question about the Navy Veterans and “Bobby Thompson” pictured with the Republican strategist: “Karl is not familiar with the group or the individual. He knows several individuals named ‘Robert Thompson,’ but doesn’t believe any of them are the same person you’re referring to.”

Thompson founded the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, which is now under investigation by 9 states, the IRS and the Department of Veterans Affairs. ‘Thompson’ (which is a stolen identify) disappeared before the state of Ohio charged him with identity fraud, money laudering and other corruption charges. He remains on the lam.

The St. Pete Times story goes on to note that the last sighting of Thompson was in New York in June, when he met with and hired a Florida political science professor to produced a “report” whitewashing the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.

By that time, the cat was out of the bag about the money Thompson had showered on high-echelon Virginia GOP officials (including $55,500 to Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign), and the law Thompson tricked the Virginia General Assembly into enacting so that the U.S. Navy Veterans Association could continue its questionable fundraising from Virginians.

Of the Virginia pols who gave that money away after news of that scandal broke, Cuccinelli was by far the most reluctant to give up Thompson’s cash.

By the way, last week Ohio voters booted from office Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray, who has been leading the investigative charge against Thompson and the U.S. Navy Vets.

Instead, they elected former U.S. Sen. Mike DeWine. DeWine’s losing Senate re-election campaign in 2006 was (you guessed it)  the beneficiary a $1,000  contribution(pdf) from a PAC founded, and 100 percent funded, by the elusive ‘Bobby Thompson.’

Tuesday I asked Ted Hart, a spokesman for Cordray, whether the investigation would continue after he leaves office.

“We’re hopeful that the work of the office on this case will continue under the new administration – but that remains to be seen,” he replied in an e-mail.

You just can’t make this stuff up!

"Bobby Thompson" and Blanca Contreras | The Rancher Newsletter | Tampabay.com

Ouch!

A defendant in the U.S. Navy Veterans Association scandal was arraigned in Ohio today. Blanca Contreras, shown at the left, pleaded not guilty to racketeering and other charges.

Bond was set at $2 million, which means she may not get out of jail anytime soon. Talking Points Memo has the court documents.

But maybe she will.

The Ohio Attorney General claimed the U.S. Navy Vets have raked in nearly $100 million in donations in the last 8 or so years (although certainly a hefty percentage went to the boiler room call centers that they hired to make calls).

There must be a bunch of money lying around.

If I was the still-fugitive “Bobby Thompson” I would put up that bail. Because the authorities want him a lot more than her.

Blanca does not look at all like the kind of person who would stand up well to the pressure of multiple state and federal investigations and/or a significant prison term hanging over her head.

She could probably do herself f a world of good by telling the cops where he is.

Here are a few things the authorities are probably wondering about. Your suggestions as to other avenues of investigation for this case are appreciated! Read more »

Here’s one of the better, and most in-depth, television news reports about the U.S. Navy Veterans Association and it’s founder, “Commander Bobby Thompson,” the $55,500 benefactor of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s successful 2009 campaign. (Cuccinelli reluctantly gave the money away to legitimate veterans charities weeks after the scandal broke).

This report aired in July, from WCPO in Cincinnatti. It ought to get your juices going for our next Caption This! contest that launches at noon.

BTW, Talking Points Memo has a report about additional political contributions the fake “Bobby Thompson” made to GOP candidates under other fake names.

"Bobby Thompson" and Blanca Contreras | The Rancher Newsletter | Tampabay.com

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray doesn’t mess around. And he doesn’t tilt at windmills, chasing imaginary fraud by climate scientists whose conclusions he doesn’t like.

When Cordray found out that the phony U.S. Navy Veterans Association had raised millions from Ohioans, he indicted the con artist who founded the group after cops in Ohio uncovered evidence the man had stolen his identity.

Back in August Ohio issued a nationwide “Joe Doe” arrest warrant out for that character, who went under the name of Bobby Thompson.

Today at 9 a.m. one of “Thompson’s” sidekicks was arrested at the airport in Charlotte, N.C. Along with “Thompson,” Blanca Contreras of Tampa, Fla. is charged with operating a corrupt enterprise, money laundering and the theft of more than $1 million from Ohioans.

This is the first domino to fall in what probably will be a long and drawn out process, folks. The cops are going to lean on Contreras to give them “Thompson.” And once they catch “Thompson,” they will lean on him to find out more about his penchant for giving hundreds of thousands of dollars in political contributions to politicians, both in his own name and in the name of the U.S. Navy Veterans Politicial Action Committee. That is when things are going to get really interesting.

Of course, the U.S. Navy Vets have raised millions in Virginia, too. But Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is not going after him. Cuccinelli himself told me this in September, down in Rocky Mount. He is leaving that to the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

“Thompson” also gave more than $67,000 in contributions to Virginia state candidates, including to the Cuccinelli campaign ($55,500).

And then “Thompson” tricked the Virginia General Assembly into enacting a law that would help the U.S. Navy Vets continue to defraud Virginians. Even though he is the General Assembly’s lawyer, and even though he is the state’s top law enforcement official, Cuccinelli is not going after Thompson.

At first Cuccinelli even defended “Thompson.” Then, Cuccinelli dropped that pretense, and decided to donate the money to legitimate Veterans causes — weeks after other Virginia pols, including Gov. Bob McDonnell, had figured out the money was fishy and gave it away too.

There’s still no Virginia Attorney General’s probe of “Bobby Thompson,” though. Guess Cuccinelli has more important fish to fry, eh? Like the climate scientist.

Ken Cuccinelli | AP Photo | Steve Helber

Wednesday, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced he is finally divvying up $55,700 in ill-gotten campaign contributions that came from one “Bobby Thompson,” a con man with a fake name and a fake veterans group who looks  like a sleazy and aging version of Tony Orlando.

As he promised to some weeks back, Cuccinelli is giving Thompson’s sleazy money to legitimate veterans’ organizations around Virginia.

The move comes more than a year after Cuccinelli accepted, and in at least one case solicited, Thompson’s contributions, and more than 4 months after questions were first raised about those contributions.

Questions about those contributions to Cuccinelli were first raised May 10 right here, on this humble blog, and that launched a broader investigation by yours truly and Mike Sluss, The Roanoke Times’ Richmond bureau reporter.

The first big story about how Thompson tricked the Virginia General Assembly into enacting a law that would benefit his phony group appeared in The Roanoke Times May 17. And most of the other politicians soon caved and gave their faked contributions to legitimate veterans charities.

(It followed earlier questions raised about the group in Florida by The St. Petersburg Times).

Later, the most conservative newspaper in Virginia, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, weighed in with an editorial titled “The Stench.”

"Bobby Thompson" founder of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association

I’m glad Virginia’s Attorney General — the state’s top law enforcement officer –  finally did the right, correct and ethical thing. But what took him so long?

And given Cuccinelli’s eagerness to investigate a former Virginia climate scientist whose research findings he doubts, you’ve got to ask the question: Why won’t he turn his office loose on “Bobby Thompson” and the phony U.S. Navy Veterans Association?

Like other attorneys general have.

In Virginia the Attorney General is the General Assembly’s lawyer. And “Bobby Thompson” conned the legislature and Gov. Bob McDonnell into enacting a law Thompson would have benefited from, if his sleazy scheme hadn’t come to light.

That law remains on the books.

(Note: This post was updated by adding the second and last two paragraphs)

WANTED IN OHIO: The man who called himself "Bobby Thompson," founder of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.

The state of Ohio today issued a nationwide arrest warrant for the man who called himself Bobby Thompson, after authorities there determined he had stolen the identify from a Bellingham, Wash. man years ago.

The true identity and whereabouts of the man who called himself Bobby Thompson, founder of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association, are unknown.

Posing as Thompson, the man gave $67,500 to the campaigns of Virginia politicians in 2009. All except $1,000 went to Republicans; Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign got $55,500 of the total.

Cuccinelli announced last week that he would give away those campaign contributions to veterans charities (the other Virginia politicians distanced themselves from Thompson’s cash months ago). Just two days later,  federal agents executed search warrants in Florida trying to get to the bottom of the U.S. Navy Veterans Association scam.
From the St. Petersburg Times:

“Our investigators have determined that this individual stole the identity of someone else and used that as a centerpiece of an apparent scam that has continued for seven years and involved tens of millions of dollars,” said [Ohio Attorney General Richard] Cordray. “We don’t know who this individual is yet, but we do know that he is not Bobby Thompson.”

Cordray said his office found evidence of the identity theft when investigators reviewed the registration record signed by Bobby Thompson to rent a UPS mailbox in Cincinnati for the Navy Veterans group in 2003.

The date of birth and the Social Security number on the rental agreement belonged to a Bobby Thompson in Bellingham, Wash., a man Cordray said “has absolutely no connection to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association.”

Here’s one suggestion where they should begin looking: New Jersey. The U.S. Navy Vets Web site lists more mail drops (at UPS stores) in that state than any other. I’d start in the Atlantic City area. There’s a sleazy quality to “Thompson” that fits in well with that town.

Another place would be the Columbus, Ohio. The suburb of New Albany is where the U.S. Navy Veterans former general counsel, Helen Mac Murray, is based. She’s part of a small shop of GOP lawyers who used to work in the Ohio Attorney General’s Office under the first lady of the Ohio GOP, former attorney general and state auditor Betty Montgomery. Betty Montgomery works for that law firm, too. They recently ditched “Thompson” after telling a judge they had been unable to contact him for weeks. In 2009, the U.S. Navy Vets in 2009 paid MacMurray, Petersen & Shuster more than $700,000 in legal fees, the St. Pete Times has reported. Coincidentally, Mac Murray went to college in the Atlantic City, N.J. area.

The St. Petersburg Times published their first story on “Thompson” and the U.S. Navy Veterans Association in March.

In May, The Roanoke Times uncovered the Virginia angle. The story detailed how “Thompson” spread around campaign cash to Virginia lawmakers, then bamboozled the General Assembly into passing a law exempting the U.S. Navy Vets from having to register with state authorities to raise money in Virginia — a huge Navy state.

The St. Petersburg Times has tallied the total raised by U.S. Navy Vets national and state chapters at $99 million since 2001.

Nobody knows where that money is, although hundreds of thousands of dollars went to political campaigns around the country, usually to Republicans.

Cuccinelli, who personally called “Thompson” last August and solicited a third contribution from him (it was $50,000) has received more money from “Thompson” than any other politician in the nation.

“Thompson” and the U.S. Navy Veterans Association are now under investigation by the IRS and authorities in at least six states.

AP Photo | Steve Helber

Is Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s months-long losing streak finally over?

Today, a federal judge in Richmond declined to throw out Cuccinelli’s lawsuit over the federal health-care reform law passed by Congress. It can go forward, the judge ruled.

We will put that in the win column for him, even though it means Virginia taxpayers will be losers, because he’s frittering away our money to challenge that law.

This must come as some relief after May, June and July, which truly were some rough months for the Attorney General.

1) First he had to back off Breast-gate, the ill-fated and rather boobish attempt to replace a bare-chested Roman goddess on the state seal with a more modestly attired one.

2) Then Cuccinelli, among many politicians in Virginia and elswhere, embroiled himself in the midst of NavyVets-gate. He single-handedly defended the honor (and $55,500 campaign contribution to Cuccinelli) of one Bobby Thompson, as Republican and Democratic attorneys general in half a dozen other states launched probes into whether Thompson is a con man. Last week he threw in the towel and said he would donate Thompson’s contributions to a non-scam veterans charity, a move other politicians from both parties did months ago.

3) Also last week the Environmental Protection Agency — which under the Bush Administration had ruled carbon dioxide emission threatened human health and should be regulated — reviewed that decision and found it correct, and basically told Cuccinelli to go pound sand with his allegation of CO2-gate.

4) Which is kind of like what the University of Virginia did when the attorney general sought university records so he could go on a fishing expedition and put the screws to a climate scientist he suspects — with little reason — of committing some kind of fraud, i.e. Global Warming-gate.

But hey, going 1-4 is a better than 0-5 as any baseball pitcher will tell you.

Maybe Cuccinelli’s luck is about to turn. Maybe he’s on a streak that will at least even his record.

Here’s the White House’s response.

Stay tuned.

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli

Back on Wednesday, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli decided that his skeezy, and second most generous (individual) campaign contributor, Bobby Thompson, suddenly no longer enjoyed a presumption of innocence.

It was this presumption, after all, that the AG had repeatedly cited as justification for hanging onto Thompson’s $55,500 in contributions to Cuccinelli’s campaign for attorney general.

But that changed on Wednesday when Cuccinelli announced he would donate Thompson’s money to legitimate and actual veterans service organizations.

It was weird, because the AG had been standing by his (con) man contributor for months, while other politicians got as far away from Thompson and his money as they could.

Adn if you recall, I wrote at that time: “It’s enough to make you wonder if any federal grand jury subpoenas relating to the U.S. Navy Veterans Association were suddenly served on Cuccinelli campaign, or on the attorney general himself.”

Well golly, I may just be clairvoyant.

From the St. Petersburg Times:

TAMPA — Armed with a search warrant, federal and state agents on Friday seized documents and computer records from the Clair-Mel home of residents who served as assistants to Bobby Thompson, the U.S. Navy Veterans Association director who vanished last month.

Criminal investigators from the IRS, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services arrived at the home at 2062 Balfour Circle on Friday morning and seized boxes of documents — some already shredded — and loaded them into an unmarked van.

Either Cuccinelli got wind of this in advance, or the feds also have knocked on his campaign’s door, demanding similar records relating to Thompson and the U.S. Navy Vets.

Or just maybe it was an interesting coincidence — one of a long, long string involving, Thompson, Cuccinelli, the U.S. Navy Vets (which Thompson founded), and the legislation the group “persuaded” key Virginia lawmakers to pass, after Thompson laid $67,500 in campaign donations on them.

Still, it was sudden, eh?

Have the feds been visiting the Cuccinelli campaign offices? Have agents talked to the AG himself?

And what about Thompson’s presumption of innocence?