Man who lived under assumed identity pleads guilty to fraud
A seemingly healthy but legally dead man appeared in District Court on Monday and pleaded guilty to a felony fraud charge related to having lived 32 years under an assumed identity.
In 1979, Arthur Gerald Jones, 73, fled Chicago and his gambling debts, mob ties and wife and three children. Illinois courts declared him dead 25 years ago, but Jones was living a second life under a new identity.
Jones was busted in July by state and federal investigators. He was working at the Rampart’s sport and race book at the time under an assumed name.
As part of a deal with prosecutors, Jones on Monday pleaded guilty to using a false name to obtain a driver’s license or identity card and avoided trial on several other felony counts, including identity theft, court records show. Jones faces probation or one to six years in prison.
A sentencing hearing was set for Jan. 31 before Judge James Bixler. Jones remained free on $20,000 bond, records show.
Investigators began looking at Jones in May 2008, when he went to a Henderson DMV office to renew his driver’s license under the name Joseph Richard Sandelli. Jones supplied a Social Security number that belonged to an Arizona man named Clifton Goodenough.
Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-1039.