John Ruffo case: the mysterious man at Dodger Stadium was not a fugitive, according to the US Marshals

LOS ANGELES (KABC) – The US Marshals Service has determined that a mysterious man who was filmed at Dodger Stadium in 2016 is not international fugitive John Ruffo.

The Marshals had appealed to the public for help in the manhunt against Ruffo, who was convicted of a $ 350 million bank fraud scheme in the 1990s and is one of the fugitives the most wanted from the federal agency.

A fan seen on TV behind the plate at a Dodgers-Red Sox game in 2016 looked a lot like Ruffo – so much so that a relative of the fugitive called out the original board.

The Marshals attempted to locate the original ticket holder, but the ticket was resold more than once and the end buyer and seat holder could not be identified.

After a story about the case aired on ABC and other media this week, a person from the Los Angeles area introduced himself to the Marshals and identified the man in the photo as family.

Deputy Marshals Pat Valdenor met the man and his family in a Los Angeles suburb. To confirm his identity, the man took his fingerprints.

“You can clearly see the difference between fingerprints,” Valdenor told ABC News. “Even without the fingerprints, there was the birth certificate, and I had his whole family in front of me – three generations. I could see it wasn’t Ruffo.”

The manhunt for Ruffo now continues with one clue down.

He has been on the run since 1998. The last known image now is a video of him withdrawing from an ATM in Queens, New York on November 9, 1998.

Ruffo was supposed to surrender to serve a sentence of 17.5 years in prison after being convicted of the scheme.

Officials say instead, he drove a rental car into the long-stay parking lot at John F. Kennedy International Airport and disappeared.

About $ 13 million of the $ 350 million was never recovered.

Ruffo has strong international connections and has shown a particular interest in Italy, investigators say. They think he could live abroad. There is a reward of $ 25,000 for information leading to his arrest.

Photos of the convicted 66-year-old scammer along with possible pseudonyms and his wanted poster are available here.

Information on submitting a tip is available here. The agency can also be reached by phone at 1 (800) 336-0102.

ABC News has been following this case for several years and documented what they found in a new podcast series called “Have You Seen This Man?” There is also a documentary in the works that will air on Hulu.