John Donald Cody

Thompson, who was posing as a retired Canadian mountie, was arrested at a rooming house in Portland, Ore. Thompson was being pursued by authorities in a nine-state, cross-country manhunt as the alleged mastermind behind an organization called the United States Navy Veterans Association, a fake charity that took in a $100 million in donations over an eight-year period. Through a reputation acquired through his seemingly successful charity, Thompson gained access to some of the nation's most powerful Republicans, including House Speaker John Boehner, former presidential candidates Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, and even President George W. Bush. U.S. Marshal Peter Elliot said he began searching Google for similarities, looking for major fraud fugitives. Elliott said that by simply searching the internet, he found an FBI wanted poster for a similar-looking man who also wore a pompadour. That man was John Donald Cody, a Harvard-educated attorney who had mysteriously disappeared from his Arizona law practice in 1984, and was later indicted on four counts of estate fraud. the alleged suspect started out on the straight and narrow. "When he first came out of Harvard, he went to work for a very prestigious law firm in New York City. When he went to Arizona, he tried to set up a system where you have lawyers appointed for indigents. Then something happened in May of 1984 where he takes off with $100,000 of a client's, allegedly, and then starts off on this life of crime." He called himself Bobby Charles Thompson and gave himself the rank of lieutenant commander as he headed a nationwide nonprofit for U.S. Navy veterans. Donations solicited by telemarketers poured in to his U.S. Navy Veterans Association from around the country — largely individual gifts under $50 — piling up tens of millions of dollars intended for veterans' needs and other military causes. Thompson and NAVPAC, his political action committee, gave lavishly to more than 50 candidates in 16 states — most of them Republicans, records show — and the generosity was rewarded with some high-level entrée, at least for photo opportunities. But authorities say veterans got precious little of Thompson's largesse and that he was a fraud, operating a bogus charity from a seedy Tampa-area duplex with a stolen identity, scamming hundreds of thousands of donors in 30 states out of at least $20 million. Campaign finance records show the man claiming to be Thompson has donated nearly $300,000 since 1999 to Bush's presidential campaigns, several U.S. senators, other candidates and groups. He also gave to candidates for local offices, such as county commissioner and sheriff, according to the Ohio attorney general's office. Cody graduated from the University of Virginia in 1969, and was awarded his Juris Doctorate degree from Harvard Law School in 1972. He served in the United States Army as a Captain in Military Intelligence. Cody traveled extensively and speaks Italian and Tagalog. From 1980 to 1984, Cody practiced law at his own firm in Sierra Vista, Arizona.