Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 22, 1992 TAG: 9201220362
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
OFFICER'S PERSISTENCE SHUTS DOWN FUGITIVE'S `PRACTICE'
An accused con man who authorities say pretended to be a psychologist and then used that position to cheat people out of more than $148,000 has been captured by FBI agents at a Roanoke County motel.Michael John Sabo, 48, - also known as Dr. Alfred P. Evans, Dr. Johnson, Dr. Miller and Dr. Brown - has been a federal fugitive since 1979, when he escaped from a federal minimum security prison in Allenwood, Pa., authorities said Tuesday.
He might have remained a fugitive were it not for an upstate New York police detective who came up with an old-fashioned hunch - and had access to a newfangled crime-fighting computer network.
Martin Syczyk, a police investigator from the Albany suburb of Colonie, has been tracking Sabo since 1989. He believes Sabo has traveled around the country setting up false counseling practices and then using his title and office to gain people's confidence and take their money.
Sabo was featured on an Oct. 30 episode of the television show "Unsolved Mysteries," but federal authorities said Tuesday that his capture was unrelated to the show.
Syczyk (pronounced: "Sik-zik") said he has "been two weeks behind Sabo all across the country" since a man posing as a psychologist cheated Albany County businesses out of more than $148,000 in computer equipment, Oriental rugs and gold and diamond jewelry and then left town.
Federal authorities said they think Sabo was just passing through Roanoke when he was captured at the Days Inn on Plantation Road about 11 p.m. Monday.
Syczyk, however, isn't so sure.
"If I know Dr. Evans, Dr. Miller and Dr. Johnson, he doesn't waste any time," the detective said. "He was probably setting something up."
In the Albany area, Sabo, 48, is charged under the name Alfred P. Evans with executing a scheme to defraud Norstar Bank of upstate New York of $53,000.
At an initial appearance hearing Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Glen Conrad ordered Sabo held without bond because of his potential danger to the community and because of the risk that he might flee the area.
Syczyk said Sabo didn't stay anywhere longer than three to five months.
After receiving complaints from Albany County merchants that they had lost thousands of dollars to a man they had trusted and liked, Syczyk suspected that his man had been involved in more than just the Albany-area con jobs.
Rather than working it as a local crime, he drew up a case analysis and submitted it to a national police computer network called "Magloclen."
The computer system took his case and matched details about the suspect's method of operation against that of other unsolved cases in its data base. The system identified 12 similar cases around the country - beginning with one in Asheville, N.C., in 1987, Syczyk said.
In each case, a man would set up a practice as a psychologist, complete with an office, a secretary, a telephone answering system and fictitious diplomas on the wall.
In Albany, the "doctor" never saw a patient, Syczyk said.
But after setting up his office and bank accounts, he spent two or three months making friends with businessmen in the area.
He did business with hospitals, coin dealers and jewelers. He bought computer equipment and then took out ads in local papers to sell the equipment.
Sabo, who looks like the 1970s TV detective "Cannon," played by William Conrad, "was a smooth-talking, professional con man," Syczyk said. "He was well-spoken and he had a high knowledge of computer systems. He was friendly and he could gain their trust."
But the phony doctor "was always on the move," Syczyk said.
The detective traced the "doctor" from Asheville to Athens, Ga., Cincinnati, and Columbia, S.C., before he came to Albany. Since 1989, Syczyk said, he has found similar cases in California, Nevada, and then back up the East Coast to Massachusetts and Maine.
In the New York case, "Dr. Evans" stayed a little longer than three months. He set up his office in June and opened a checking account at Norstar Bank with $160. For several months, he made friends with Albany County businessmen, making small purchases and discussing purchases of jewelry and Oriental rugs that he wanted to make for his "wife," Syczyk said.
For two months, "Dr. Evans" borrowed Oriental rugs from a merchant, allegedly to take home to see if his "wife" wanted to buy them, Syczyk said.
After returning rugs twice to the store, the phony doctor went to the store on Oct. 24, 1989, and picked out one of the most expensive rugs, saying he thought his wife would like it, according to a news release from the Colonie police.
The store owner, who knew and liked the doctor, "threw in another $5,000 rug with it," Syczyk said. "He said, `Here, take this home, too.' " The value of the rugs was about $22,000.
Then, in a two-day period in early November, the "doctor" made his sting, Syczyk said. He had two checks totaling $53,000 deposited in his checking account from a false account in Cincinnati.
He then allegedly wrote checks from his account to buy a computer system from Sears for $42,000, a 4 1/2-carat diamond ring for $51,000, and a variety of gold jewelry worth $31,000.
The check written for the computer system was cleared by the bank based on the false deposit from Cincinnati. The other checks bounced.
But by the time people started looking for "Dr. Evans," he had moved on. His "wife" was never seen in public.
It is unclear how Sabo was traced to Roanoke.
FBI agent John Butler testified at the federal court hearing Tuesday that an FBI agent from Albany called him about 9:20 p.m. Monday and told him that Sabo was staying at the Days Inn motel on Plantation Road.
Until recently, authorities had been looking for him under the name of Alfred P. Evans, but a fingerprint on a check passed in the Albany case had matched a print identified as Sabo's, Butler said.
Butler said Sabo was arrested without incident. Butler testified that Sabo admitted his identity and said he knew he was being sought on the fraud charge in Albany.
Syczyk plans to send information on Sabo's case to authorities in the places where similar con jobs have taken place.