(RP) Newsday: Elliot Offen's Past as The King of All Con Men

[Timmy]

He must not have done anything that bad or he'd still be in jail.
However, you never know with our legal system where you can murder
someone and just serve a couple of years...

On Fri, 27 Dec 2002 11:26:42 GMT, Ano...@The.Basement.Cave (Anon Guy)
wrote:

>Re: Today's "Best Of"
>
>Newsday
>>Saturday August 20, 1988
>
>STING SNARES 'SELLER'
>By Mitch Gelman
>
>A man described as one of the most wanted con artists in the country
>was caught yesterday in a sting set up by police, officials said.
>Elliot Keith Offen, 36, was arrested at a pay telephone on the
>southwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 58th Street as he tried
>to wrap up a deal for $60,000 in lightbulbs, police said.
>
>Investigators said Offen was unaware that the lightbulbs he had "sold"
>were in FBI custody and that the unidentified store from which he was
>seeking to collect the $60,000 was cooperating with police.
>Offen, who is wanted in at least four states, was charged with grand
>larcency, attempted grand larceny, criminal impersonation, attempted
>grand larceny and interstate flight to avoid prosecution, said Lt.
>John Kelly of the Special Frauds Squad.
>
>According to Kelly, the operation that led to Offen's arrest mirrored
>others he allegedly had staged around the country during the past
>three years.
>
>Police said Offen operated in the following manner: He used more than
>50 aliases to pose as a representative of legitimate businesses. He
>would order goods from a wholesaler and take delivery of them, but he
>would never pay for the merchandise. By the time the wholesaler came
>to collect the money, Offen would be gone. Offen then would sell the
>goods to legitimate retailers for whatever price the market would
>bear, and use legitimate warehouses and truckers to store and ship
>his goods. Offen is wanted in Florida, Ohio, New Jersey and Virginia
>for a series of alleged frauds. Lt. Kelly said he expects that "an
>extensive post-arrest investigation" will reveal an even longer trail
>of crimes. Offen was being held at the Metropolitan Correctional
>Center.
>
>Not online.

[Chris Collins]

In article 3e0cb3c1...@news.AnonGuy.edu, Anon Guy at
Ano...@The.Basement.Cave frothed:

> Offen says the experience he gained selling costume
> jewelry and souvenirs with his father in Times
> Square for ten years in the Seventies has served him
>> well. "One thing I did learn if nothing else was that
>> in a schlock operation, the most integral part of any
>> business is advertisement."

Haha... now that sounds familiar. Here we have another eccentric just
together enough to corner a market niche. But where can they go? Thanks,
Howard.

In fairness, his verbose schtick is more entertaining than that of most of
the self-promoting frauds on the show.

Good stuff, Anon.

--

Who needs love when you got a gun?

-Dez Cadena, Black Flag