(onlinepoker.net) --A gambler who went missing in 1979 and declared legally dead in 1986, has now been arrested while working at a casino sports book in Las Vegas.
At the time of his disappearance Arthur Gerald Jones was a commodities broker in Chicago and had a wife and three kids. However, the trader apparently had an ongoing gambling problem which once saw him lose $30,000 on a single basketball game.
Not surprisingly, Arthur Jones soon found himself facing financial ruin and even had to sell his seat on the Chicago Board of Trade to help pay off $210,000 worth of gambling debt.
However, his troubles didn’t stop there and according to his wife at the time, Joanne Esplin, Arthur Jones may have ended up in the pockets of the Chicago mob running errands for the criminal organisation.
One day in 1979, the then 40 year old told his wife he was on his way to a business meeting, but Joanne Esplin then contacted the police the following day when her husband failed to return home.
Soon after, Arthur Jones’ silver Buick was found at O’Hare International Airport, and considering his jaded background foul play was suspected and he was declared legally dead.
Unbeknownst to his wife, who subsequently received $47,000 in survivor benefits from the Social Security, Arthur Jones had procured a fake ID proclaiming himself to be Joseph Richard Sandelli incorporating the Social Security number of a Mr Clifton Goodenough .He then headed off to Las Vegas, a place famed in the 1980′s for allowing certain elements a fresh start.
Now aged 72, Jones’ past has finally caught up with him after investigators eventually started heeding the words of Mr Goodenough, who since 1995 had been facing problems with the Social Security Administration over requests to pay taxes on money he hadn’t earned.
Eventually, Jones was arrested when he tried to renew his driver’s license at the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles, with cross-checking measures between the two departments then identifying him as the culprit.
After 32 years living out a new life in Las Vegas, Arthur Gerald Jones is currently facing a whole array of charges which include identity theft and fraud.
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