Steven Jay Russell
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
The tone or style of this article or section may not be appropriate for Wikipedia. Specific concerns may be found on the talk page. See Wikipedia's guide to writing better articles for suggestions.(January 2008) |
Steven Jay Russell (born September 14, 1957) is a US con artist and impostor who has escaped from prison a number of times. He has been nicknamed "Houdini" and "King Con". His IQ was measured at 169.
Russell, born Steven Jay Basham, was adopted at birth by a conservative family in Virginia Beach. In the 1970s Russell was a deputy police officer and family man in Virginia. He spent some of his time successfully looking for his birth mother using law enforcement databases the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications Service and the National Crime Information Center and learned to use them effectively. He conned his way into a sales manager job with White Swan Foodservice in Houston by convincing Ronald Elmquist, the CEO at the time, that he had advanced degrees in fresh foodservice management. When it was revealed that Russell was a homosexual, he lost his job at White Swan, and he managed to convince the CEOs of two other foodservice companies of his qualifications before finally being discovered as a fraud. He was subsequently arrested on lewd behavior charges at a Houston park known as a gathering place for homosexual men. That began his decline into criminal behavior.
Over the years, Russell has had at least 14 known aliases. His every escape and escape attempt has happened on Friday 13 and during his escapes he has masqueraded as a judge, a physician and a handyman, to name only a few. Russell might have impersonated a Boca Raton, Florida police officer in 1980 and 1981.
In May 21, 1993 Russell got out of Harris County Jail in Houston, Texas wearing civilian clothes he had obtained. Afterwards he fabricated bogus credentials and got a job as a CFO of North American Medical Management. He proceeded to embezzle thousands of dollars from the company. In 1995 he was eventually caught and imprisoned for insurance fraud and again placed into Harris County Jail where he met Phillip Morris, who became his lover.
In 1996 Russell escaped from Harris County Jail; he impersonated a judge and ordered his own bond decreased from $900,000 to the $45,000 that he easily met. He was arrested 10 days later in Florida and shipped back to Texas. That same year he started taking art classes provided by the prison. Each time he attended each session he would snatch a green Magic Marker and would hide it underneath his bed. After having enough markers Russell would dye his white uniform green. Because all of the medical professionals in that prison wore green uniforms, Russel simply walked out the prison as a "doctor"
In 1998 he was again in the Harris County Jail serving a 45-year sentence for theft of $800,000 from a Houston company that manages physician's finances plus 20 years for a previous escape. In February 24 he persuaded a prison doctor that he had AIDS and, later he got Phillip Morris transferred to the Dallas County Jail and tried to have him released - he even visited him masquerading as a lawyer.
In March 1998 Russell posed as a Virginia millionaire and on March 20 tried to take a $75,000 loan from NationsBank in Dallas. When bank officials got suspicious and alerted the police, Russell feigned a heart attack and was transported to a hospital. The FBI placed him under guard, but Russell managed to impersonate an FBI agent on his cellular phone and state that he was no longer wanted. He disappeared. However, he was caught shortly.
After being sent to prison, Russell began to plot his most daring escape. Using his privilege to access the prison library, Russell began reading on AIDS. He also began taking laxatives to make it look as if he had the symptoms of AIDS. Russell used his typewriter provided by the prison to forge a medical document stating he has AIDS. He then convinced the doctors that he had AIDS on February 24. He also persuaded the prison doctor that he had someone outside to authorize a special needs parole to Houston hospital - in March Friday 13. While outside and free again, Russell posed as the doctor that put him in special care and told officials Russell has died.
However, investigators found a fake lawyer ID card with Russell's picture. Therefore the hunt for Russell began all over again.
Russell was arrested again in April 7, 1998 in Fort Lauderdale when he was walking to his car. He was again shipped back to Texas, receiving a 144 year jail sentence.
[edit] Rusell in media
Because of Russell's infamous escapes, Discovery Channel aired a one hour special on Russell.
A movie about his prison escapes was announced, called I Love You Phillip Morris, with actor Jim Carrey portraying Russell [1] and Ewan McGregor playing Phillip Morris.[2]
[edit] Sources
- McVicker, Steve (June 25, 2003). I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks. Miramax Books. ISBN 0-7868-6903-8.
- McWilliams, James. "The Master Manipulator", The Texas Observer, July 4, 2003. Retrieved on 2006-09-19.
[edit] References
|
||||||||||||||||
