Chicago Broker Missing Since 1979 Found Working as Vegas Bookie

By Chuck Sudo in News on Jul 22, 2011 7:40PM

This is one of those stories you read in an Elmore Leonard novel, but it's all too real and originates in suburban Highland Park. A stockbroker who went missing in 1979 and was legally declared dead 25 years ago has surfaced in Las Vegas, where he was working as a bookie under a false identity.

72-year-old Arthur Gerald Jones was arrested Tuesday and charged with identity theft and fraud, but the story begins May 11, 1979. That's when Jones, a broker who had a seat on the Chicago Board of Trade, was reported missing by his wife. the day before, Jones told his wife he had a business meeting. Some investigating Jones' disappearance believed he foul play may have been involved, suspecting Jones had gambling debts and "possible organized crime affiliations."

Investigators now believe Jones obtained a false identity, Illinois drivers license and Social Security card and left for Florida. Jones, or shall we say "Joseph Richard Sandelli," later used those documents to obtain a Nevada Drivers license in 1988. Jones was legally declared dead two years prior in an Illinois court, with his date of death the date he went missing in 1979. HIs wife and children started collecting Social Security benefits after.

The jig was up for Jones when the Social Security Administration started investigating Jones for fraudulent use of a Social Security number.

Jones is being held on $20,000 bond.