American drug suspect impersonated ‘Mr Thomas’ for 25 years, arrested in Chiang Mai

[metisdead]

Off topic posts and replies have been removed. 

[metisdead]

A post containing derogatory slur comments toward Pattaya has been removed:

 

11) You will not post slurs, degrading or overly negative comments directed towards Thailand, specific locations, Thai institutions such as the judicial or law enforcement system, Thai culture, Thai people or any other group on the basis of race, nationality, religion, gender or sexual orientation.

[bipper]

21 hours ago, Lucius verus said:

Chiang-mai is rapidly becoming the new Pattaya or maybe its always been this way.

Explain?

[ShortTimed]

just to inform you that 6 yrs is not even one decade.please read the story !

 

Its so much more fun to read the headline and then just imagine the rest...Lol

 

Seriously though My vision is pretty poor. Thanks for clarifying.

 

[Duck J Butters]

1 hour ago, LomSak27 said:

If this guy is hanging out here in CM do you really think he is loaded with cash? If he is getting cheap ID from Nigerians, do you think he is loaded?

So no he would not be getting facial reconstruction surgery

Plastic surgery is absurdly cheap in Thailand. I bought my wife implants at the most expensive and exclusive clinic in Bangkok and it was meager $3000 USD. A simple nose job at a low end place will cost you 15,000 baht max. If you’re telling me he couldn’t scrape together 15,000 baht for a nose job than I don’t know what to say. But clearly we live in different worlds. 15,000 baht is what I just paid for 3 kegs of Leffe Blonde on Wishbeer.com. Literally having delivered to my pad right now. That’s just the beginning of my Saturday night. I mean give me a break.

[ShortTimed]

Plastic surgery is absurdly cheap in Thailand. I bought my wife implants at the most expensive and exclusive clinic in Bangkok and it was meager $3000 USD.

Duck,

I don’t know much about this facial recognition software but I am pretty sure a boob job would not have defeated the program algorithms and thrown the authorities off his trail.

[Captain 776]

2 hours ago, toofarnorth said:

No , please keep them apart !

 

20 hours ago, chrisc38 said:

How did i lose? If I lost one time and won a dozen other times, is that really losing?

Having lived in Jomtien for 9 yrs and now Chiang Mai for 5......I see no correlation .........even remotely.......to Chiang Mai being anything like Pattaya and at least for my lifetime, I hope it stays that way.

We left down there for a number of reasons and really enjoy Chiang Mai.

[Happystance]

1 hour ago, bipper said:

Explain?

There's nothing to explain, it's pure jibberish.

[atyclb]

5 hours ago, M71 said:

Funny stuff indeed - considering governments are the biggest drug dealers on the planet - gotta throw a 'drug dealer' out there now and then to keep the deception alive for the idiot sheeple majority. Who do you think runs the poppy fields in Afghanistan - Santa Clause? Or perhaps a military which has occupied it for the last 15 years for no particular reason.

 

cia dont like competition

 

 

[Happystance]

3 hours ago, ShortTimed said:

Maybe better to have just done the time and paid his debt to society back in the day.

 

Maybe not. I've read a few stories of those on the run, when finally brought to judgement, getting light sentences. No media fueling a lynching mentality anymore...

Plus, sometimes drug laws change- didn't they do away with that 3 strikes for any felony in California?

So, plausibly, maybe he could have gotten a life sentence at the time, for something he'll get 5 years now...?

 

What IS his crime, anyway?

We get a generic 'drug crime' label and posters come out with pitchforks and torches, lol.

 

[SuperTed]

This is a classic non-story.

 

1. The Americans stumbled onto the bust because the actual Mr. Thomas showed up at the post office looking for a passport.

 

What a trip that must have been for Mr Thomas - "but Mistuh your passport ain' expired"

 

"Expired?! I've never had a passport!"

 

No doubt Mr. Thomas's plan for retirement hols were ruined.

 

2. The fake Mr. Thomas will die in prison. Whatever the drugs charge, plus jumping bond, wire fraud, possessing and using forged federal id, identity theft. Done.

 

3. Big Joke has a great PR machine. I have to wonder if he has a foreign adviser for the post? Everything worth reporting, and many non-stories like this one, are turned into a publication-ready story with headlines, photos and videos all packaged nicely for the press. No doubt delivered after a free/posh Bangkok journalists' lunch. And just in time for a Friday afternoon release to ????????'s communal FB feed.

 

Have to admire his organization and ambition.

Edited March 23, 2019 by SuperTed
I don't know what day it is

[Nyezhov]

1 hour ago, ShortTimed said:

 

Duck,

I don’t know much about this facial recognition software but I am pretty sure a boob job would not have defeated the program algorithms and thrown the authorities off his trail.
 

 

Yep, especially if he had the boobs implated on either side of his head. Thats what I would do. Fool that AI yesiree

[dddave]

22 hours ago, from the home of CC said:

embassy used facial recognition programs that got a hit I guess..

Read the story again. Not based on facial recognition. The real Mr. Thomas simply applied for a new passport which exposed the existence of another person using the same identity.

 

At one time, it was relatively easy to get a passport in another's name.  You'd go looking in grave yards for an infant who was born close to your own birth date and died in infancy. That would give you both a birth date and an easy to determine place of birth.  In pre-computer days, birth and death records were rarely coordinated so usually a simple matter to get a copy of the birth certificate and apply in the infants name, using your own photo.  Now, that all gets quickly checked out.

[Moon6966]

Yes but they don't like competition

Funny stuff indeed - considering governments are the biggest drug dealers on the planet - gotta throw a 'drug dealer' out there now and then to keep the deception alive for the idiot sheeple majority. Who do you think runs the poppy fields in Afghanistan - Santa Clause? Or perhaps a military which has occupied it for the last 15 years for no particular reason.

Sent from my MI MAX 2 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[ttrd]

RE - The Thai Immigration Bureau reports that they have arrested a 67 year old American man Bruce McIntire. He is a drug suspect who has been on the run for 25 years and using the identity of another man. He has been living in Thailand for six years.

 

Here we see the importance of choosing an identity that give you enough pension to not force you to move to a cheaper country ...

[ShortTimed]

Whats most troublesome about this is the guy used forged documents from some Nigerian to qualify and receive an authentic US Passport. That would have to include a State issued birth certificate (forged or stolen from Mr Thomas but it would have had to have been notarized).

 

Granted this was 25 years ago but talk about a security breach.

 

So did this McIntire even know Mr Thomas? Or did the forger have a photo of some random American dude that looked similar to McIntire? What are the chances of that?

 

It would sure be interesting to learn how McIntire originally gained knowledge of a guy who looked like him named Mr Thomas.

 

[Dap]

5 hours ago, ShortTimed said:

 after having made a life here for decades.

The article stated he was living in Thailand for only 6 years.

 

 

 

 

[ShortTimed]

 

 Yeah, my bad. Somebody already called me out...Lol

 

You guys are a tough crowd.

 

Try to focus on the rest of the post. Ha.

 

 

[emptypockets]

3 hours ago, Duck J Butters said:

Plastic surgery is absurdly cheap in Thailand. I bought my wife implants at the most expensive and exclusive clinic in Bangkok and it was meager $3000 USD. A simple nose job at a low end place will cost you 15,000 baht max. If you’re telling me he couldn’t scrape together 15,000 baht for a nose job than I don’t know what to say. But clearly we live in different worlds. 15,000 baht is what I just paid for 3 kegs of Leffe Blonde on Wishbeer.com. Literally having delivered to my pad right now. That’s just the beginning of my Saturday night. I mean give me a break.

Wife: I want to get bigger boobs. 100,000 baht

Me: Try rubbing toilet paper on them

Wife: Will that make my boobs bigger?

Me: Well, it worked on your arse.

[sambum]

Another arrest for "Big Joke"? Well - that is what is implied by the photo!

[Mansell]

5 hours ago, Captain 776 said:

Long gone are the days ofthe 30’s and 40’s when you could rob a bank or murder someone and just go to another state or another country and be totally anonymous.

With technology now a days..........like someone said above the world has become a much smaller place.

One thing that will never change.........at some point they always return to the scene of the crime.

They return or they call a friend or family member, they make a mistake, they get recognized in a place they think no one will ever see me here.

Whitey Bulger, the Boston Irish mob kingpin, murderer, child molester.......managed for 16 yrs until his girlfriend was recognized living in Santa Monica CA.

Its just a matter of time with todays technology and it will be a long time before any fugitive has a 16 yr life on the lam again.

Actually he wasn't recognized through his girl friend. A woman, I believe Norwegian lived in the same building as them, and she had returned to Norway and then one day recognized them from an FBI Internet posting, so she informed the FBI where they lived.....she received one or two million dollars reward. I used to walk by their building a few times a week.....unfortunately never saw Whitey as I could have used the reward money....ha ha ha!

[Jim7777]

That’s exactly how James “Whitey” Bulger evaded the FBI for something like 16 years on the FBI’s number one most wanted list.  He was the old school Irish Boston gangster.  He was very high on the FBI’s most wanted list, when Osama Bin Laden was finally killed Bulger rose to the FBI’s number one most wanted fugitive.  Except he never fled the United States he left Boston for the last time back in 1995 when he first went on the run after being indicted for several murders, drug and weapons trafficking, and multiple other crimes.  Then Bulger was eventually caught living in an apartment in California with his girlfriend in 2011.  By the time Bulger was caught by the FBI in 2011 he was in his 80’s by then.  He started his cover by buying a friend’s Social Security Card and then eventually got all the other usual forms of identification such as Driver’s License, passport, credit cards and all that.  

 

I pretty much know how this guy in Chiangmai was caught after 25 years on the run because almost every port of entry in the world these days airports, land borders, or whatever use biometrics screening and when the real guy applied for his new passport he probably set off a red flag in the biometrics system when he submitted his application for a new passport and another duplicate passport popped up in the system.  Then Federal Law Enforcement or the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) was probably immediately notified.  That’s one of the main things that biometrics screening is designed to do is to stop people from using fake passports.  Although the biometrics system is also causing serious problems when the good guys have to do it sometimes which is something I can’t get into but you probably get the picture.  

 

Interesting story one of the last times I was at my local immigration office I walked into the Transnational Crimes Office next door to where we report every 90 days to make sure that they had our correct address on file and in that office they the have wanted posters of all of the top people wanted by INTERPOL and Thai immigration STILL HAS James “Whitey” Bulger’s wanted poster on their wall as number one most wanted and I just had to take a picture of it.  I just thought it was interesting because I saw the movie they made about his life called “Black Mass” starring Johnny Depp as Bulger.  Very interesting story about him.  

 

I remember saying in there that Bulger had already been caught almost 8 years ago now back in 2011, and not only was he captured back in 2011 but I heard on the news just last year in late 2018 that Bulger was murdered in a Federal Prison in Hazleton, West Virginia so he’s actually been dead now as of 2018 and was caught back in 2011, yet his INTERPOL number one most wanted poster IS STILL on Thai Immigration’s wall of wanted persons by INTERPOL.  Bulger was captured in 2011, and died in prison last year in 2018 yet he’s still listed at my local immigration office as Interpol’s number one most wanted fugitive.  I just wonder if my immigration office just hadn’t updated their wanted list in several years or if Interpol is just not updating their system.  As many years ago as it was that Bulger was caught I’m guessing that it was probably just my local immigration office never updating their Interpol wanted posters up on their wall.  

 

I just thought it was interesting I never even knew anything about the guy back in 2011 when it was all over the news that he had finally been caught I just remember that it was a huge deal on the news when they finally caught him after 16 years on the run.  I didn’t learn anything about him until I saw the movie Black Mass, apparently there were two movies made about him the first one stared Jack Nicholson as Bulger but I’ve never seen that one that movie was made before he was eventually caught, I’ve only seen the movie Black Mass staring Johnny Depp as Bulger.  Black Mass was actually a good movie and their are even some comical scenes in that movie that kind of made me laugh until I thought about the fact that it was a true story and this guy had really done some really evil things.  

 

For 16 years they had a really tough time looking for him, there were sightings of him all over the world mostly in Europe but the FBI eventually caught up with him right in the United States in California.  And Bulger looked very much like the person he was posing as for 16 years.  I think the reason why Bulger was such a high priority for the FBI was because he seriously embarrassed them.  Bulger was supposedly an FBI confidential informant but his FBI handler was actually a childhood friend of Bulger and he was actually providing Bulger with information about informants and the Bulger was killing them because he had a friend in the FBI helping him.  Eventually all of it was exposed publicly in the news back in the 90’s when Bulger went on the run and it was a huge embarrassment to the FBI.  The FBI agent who was helping Bulger got sentenced to 40 years in prison And of course Bulger was murdered in a Federal Prison just last year after being caught back in 2011, yet my local immigration office still has his Interpol most wanted fugitive poster on their wall after he was caught almost 8 years ago and now he’s actually dead.  

 

This story kind of reminds me of when Bulger was captured, except he was caught in California.  Thailand is definitely not the country you want to flee to these days if you’re an International fugitive or wanted for any felony.  They catch fugitives here all the time and especially the way immigration is cracking down.  If you’re on the run there’s a few countries you can hide out in successfully in South America with no Extradition Treaties such as Venezuela and a few others especially if you have a lot of money to throw around.  

Edited March 23, 2019 by Jim7777

[Jim7777]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:04 PM, NCC1701A said:

the times they are a changin'.

 

 

Actually it’s been this way for a while now I remember just about every country in the world began using biometrics screening at almost every port of entry in the world back in 2005 through 2006.  Traveling on a fake passport these days is extremely dangerous and an easy way to get caught.  

[NCC1701A]

7 minutes ago, Jim7777 said:

Actually it’s been this way for a while now I remember just about every country in the world began using biometrics screening at almost every port of entry in the world back in 2005 through 2006.  Traveling on a fake passport these days is extremely dangerous and an easy way to get caught.  

yes. but i meant for this man in Thailand and how tech is finally catching up here. 

[isaanjohnno]

Another ribbon or medal for BJ

[isaanjohnno]

31 minutes ago, Jim7777 said:

That’s exactly how James “Whitey” Bulger evaded the FBI for something like 16 years on the FBI’s number one most wanted list.  He was the old school Irish Boston gangster.  He was very high on the FBI’s most wanted list, when Osama Bin Laden was finally killed Bulger rose to the FBI’s number one most wanted fugitive.  Except he never fled the United States he left Boston for the last time back in 1995 when he first went on the run after being indicted for several murders, drug and weapons trafficking, and multiple other crimes.  Then Bulger was eventually caught living in an apartment in California with his girlfriend in 2011.  By the time Bulger was caught by the FBI in 2011 he was in his 80’s by then.  He started his cover by buying a friend’s Social Security Card and then eventually got all the other usual forms of identification such as Driver’s License, passport, credit cards and all that.  

 

I pretty much know how this guy in Chiangmai was caught after 25 years on the run because almost every port of entry in the world these days airports, land borders, or whatever use biometrics screening and when the real guy applied for his new passport he probably set off a red flag in the biometrics system when he submitted his application for a new passport and another duplicate passport popped up in the system.  Then Federal Law Enforcement or the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) was probably immediately notified.  That’s one of the main things that biometrics screening is designed to do is to stop people from using fake passports.  Although the biometrics system is also causing serious problems when the good guys have to do it sometimes which is something I can’t get into but you probably get the picture.  

 

Interesting story one of the last times I was at my local immigration office I walked into the Transnational Crimes Office next door to where we report every 90 days to make sure that they had our correct address on file and in that office they the have wanted posters of all of the top people wanted by INTERPOL and Thai immigration STILL HAS James “Whitey” Bulger’s wanted poster on their wall as number one most wanted and I just had to take a picture of it.  I just thought it was interesting because I saw the movie they made about his life called “Black Mass” starring Johnny Depp as Bulger.  Very interesting story about him.  

 

I remember saying in there that Bulger had already been caught almost 8 years ago now back in 2011, and not only was he captured back in 2011 but I heard on the news just last year in late 2018 that Bulger was murdered in a Federal Prison in Hazleton, West Virginia so he’s actually been dead now as of 2018 and was caught back in 2011, yet his INTERPOL number one most wanted poster IS STILL on Thai Immigration’s wall of wanted persons by INTERPOL.  Bulger was captured in 2011, and died in prison last year in 2018 yet he’s still listed at my local immigration office as Interpol’s number one most wanted fugitive.  I just wonder if my immigration office just hadn’t updated their wanted list in several years or if Interpol is just not updating their system.  As many years ago as it was that Bulger was caught I’m guessing that it was probably just my local immigration office never updating their Interpol wanted posters up on their wall.  

 

I just thought it was interesting I never even knew anything about the guy back in 2011 when it was all over the news that he had finally been caught I just remember that it was a huge deal on the news when they finally caught him after 16 years on the run.  I didn’t learn anything about him until I saw the movie Black Mass, apparently there were two movies made about him the first one stared Jack Nicholson as Bulger but I’ve never seen that one that movie was made before he was eventually caught, I’ve only seen the movie Black Mass staring Johnny Depp as Bulger.  Black Mass was actually a good movie and their are even some comical scenes in that movie that kind of made me laugh until I thought about the fact that it was a true story and this guy had really done some really evil things.  

 

For 16 years they had a really tough time looking for him, there were sightings of him all over the world mostly in Europe but the FBI eventually caught up with him right in the United States in California.  And Bulger looked very much like the person he was posing as for 16 years.  I think the reason why Bulger was such a high priority for the FBI was because he seriously embarrassed them.  Bulger was supposedly an FBI confidential informant but his FBI handler was actually a childhood friend of Bulger and he was actually providing Bulger with information about informants and the Bulger was killing them because he had a friend in the FBI helping him.  Eventually all of it was exposed publicly in the news back in the 90’s when Bulger went on the run and it was a huge embarrassment to the FBI.  The FBI agent who was helping Bulger got sentenced to 40 years in prison And of course Bulger was murdered in a Federal Prison just last year after being caught back in 2011, yet my local immigration office still has his Interpol most wanted fugitive poster on their wall after he was caught almost 8 years ago and now he’s actually dead.  

 

This story kind of reminds me of when Bulger was captured, except he was caught in California.  Thailand is definitely not the country you want to flee to these days if you’re an International fugitive or wanted for any felony.  They catch fugitives here all the time and especially the way immigration is cracking down.  If you’re on the run there’s a few countries you can hide out in successfully in South America with no Extradition Treaties such as Venezuela and a few others especially if you have a lot of money to throw around.  

Have no fear BJ will catch him even if it in spiritual form

[KKr]

the statute of limitations for drug related suspects is how long ?

found it here: 
https://www.federalcharges.com/drug-narcotics-laws-charges/

 

Federal Drug Charges Statute of Limitations

An oft-quoted federal statute, 18 USC 3282, provides a five-year window of limitation for the prosecution of noncapital federal offenses. Although some offenses are exempt, the majority may not be prosecuted 60 months after the alleged offense.

So, now it seems we are talking about using a fake passport, for whatever reason, and being busted for that offence.
Seems the Drug offences, if he was indeed just a suspect i.e. not had a judgement against him, would have expired 20 years ago.

let's wait for the follow up (if any) on this by the crack-journalists. 

Edited March 23, 2019 by KKr

[ShortTimed]

the statute of limitations for drug related suspects is how long ?

found it here: 
https://www.federalcharges.com/drug-narcotics-laws-charges/
 
Federal Drug Charges Statute of Limitations

An oft-quoted federal statute, 18 USC 3282, provides a five-year window of limitation for the prosecution of noncapital federal offenses. Although some offenses are exempt, the majority may not be prosecuted 60 months after the alleged offense.

So, now it seems we are talking about using a fake passport, for whatever reason, and being busted for that offence.
Seems the Drug offences, if he was indeed just a suspect i.e. not had a judgement against him, would have expired 20 years ago.

let's wait for the follow up (if any) on this by the crack-journalists. 

I have learned in my short time here that the english news is sometimes buggered in translation and I can’t find anything through google on this guys history in US news.

It could be that he was already found guilty and escaped before sentencing but I can’t find a thing.

[orang37]

On 3/22/2019 at 4:33 PM, Lucius verus said:

Chiang-mai is rapidly becoming the new Pattaya or maybe its always been this way.

 

Chiang Mai, currently a gas (carbon monoxide) giant, still l has a few aeons to go before it's a black hole.

 

~o:37;

[Happystance]

3 hours ago, isaanjohnno said:

Have no fear BJ will catch him even if it in spiritual form

You needed to quote that entire huge post, just to say THIS?