Ruling Is Another Twist in Death Case

A San Diego Superior Court judge ruled Friday that a one-time high-flying business entrepreneur, who dropped from sight last August just months after his wife was killed, defrauded his mother-in-law of her $75,000 retirement nest egg.

Judge Vincent di Figlia’s ruling was the latest twist in the ongoing saga of Chuck Russ, a dark-haired and dynamic businessman who seemed to be forging a mini-empire in the telemarketing field before the mysterious death of his wife.

The battered body of Pamela Russ, an attractive, 33-year-old dancer and artist, was discovered Feb. 1 along an isolated stretch of the coast highway near Torrey Pines State Park. Investigators believe an assailant beat Pamela Russ, then ran her down with her own cream-colored Mercedes-Benz as she tried to flee.

Early last August, Chuck Russ disappeared after police issued a criminal warrant for his arrest on charges that he bilked Pamela’s mother, Ginger Allen, of her retirement nest egg.

A Ploy to Spotlight?

San Diego police have been careful to avoid pointing fingers during their ongoing homicide investigation. A former attorney of Russ’ has said that the civil suit and criminal charges filed against Russ by police were a ploy to spotlight the 37-year-old businessman as a suspect in the slaying.

For five months, Russ has remained a fugitive, leaving no clues as to his whereabouts. In the meantime, Allen has pushed forward with her civil court battle to retrieve the money she said Russ had embezzled.

Although Di Figlia ruled Friday that Russ owes the 66-year-old widow the misappropriated money, another hearing must be held to decide if Allen should receive punitive damages.

Allen, an Encinitas dance teacher, is seeking to recover $600,000 in life insurance money due Russ from policies he had taken out on his wife. Russ was barred by a judge from collecting the insurance money shortly after Allen filed her civil suit.

Her attorney, Robert G. Moore of El Cajon, said Friday that he would seek a hearing to determine punitive damages “at the earliest possible time to avoid any additional trauma for Ginger.”

“The longer this goes on, the more damage this is doing to her,” Moore said. “This is one chapter in her life that we’ve got to close.”

Bittersweet Victory

For Allen, the court victory brought mixed emotions.

“I feel the justice system has worked, and that’s been a while coming,” Allen said. “But this really won’t be resolved until the one who murdered my daughter is found. That really needs to be done to close the door on this.”

Russ’ attorney, John Thompson of San Diego, resigned from the case several months after his client disappeared. Since then, Russ’ mother, Jennie Gamble, has come to her son’s defense.

Gamble attended Friday’s hearing, asking that the matter be put off until her son returns to defend himself, but Di Figlia declined to wait any longer. Gamble could not be reached for comment after the hearing.

Allen’s lawsuit was sparked by a series of incidents that followed the death of her daughter.

In the days after Pamela’s death, Chuck Russ was a devoted son-in-law, coming to visit Ginger Allen most days. But soon, Allen began to receive calls from angry creditors saying Russ, who sold his business in late 1986, owed them money.

Finally, Allen said she discovered that Russ had used her nest egg for his own purposes, forging some documents to transfer the money into his own accounts. In May, she sued.

“Chuck’s betrayal was not just money,” Allen said Friday. “I loved him like a son. To learn what he had done made it seem like I had lost two children.”

In court papers, Allen maintained that she considered her son-in-law a “financial genius” when he approached her in 1985 talking of an opportunity to get a 24% annual return on an investment.

Allen said Russ persuaded her to draw out $75,000 by mortgaging the San Diego home she had inherited from her late husband’s parents.

Instead of investing the money, Russ used it “for himself to benefit his business interests and to pay off debts,” according to court papers filed by Moore.

In Financial Straits

Since early last year, Allen has been forced to make $1,000-a-month mortgage payments, which were supposed to have been absorbed under Russ’ investment scheme. Those unanticipated payments put Allen in a precarious financial situation, but she has managed to keep abreast with the help of friends in the community who rallied to her cause.

A more ominous problem has been a balloon payment due on the mortgage April 29. If Allen does not make the payment, she stands to lose the property, which she has counted on to yield rental income that would pay the bills during retirement.

When Russ disappeared in August, police quickly traced him to Taos, N.M. They found only an empty condominium he had rented. Since then, there have been no clues to his whereabouts, according to Lt. Phil Jarvis of the San Diego police homicide unit.

“I don’t think anyone knows where he is,” Jarvis said. “We sure have some hard questions we want to ask him.”

Jarvis said a federal arrest warrant for Russ was issued several months ago and the FBI has contacted several police in several foreign countries where he might have fled.

Investigators say Pam Russ left the couple’s Leucadia apartment on Jan. 31 shortly before midnight to retrieve some photographic negatives from her artist’s loft in downtown San Diego. The couple were scheduled to leave within a day on a trip to watch the America’s Cup regatta in Australia.

Chuck Russ told police that when his wife failed to return, he began searching the freeways for her. Russ said he went to the police station to report her missing only to discover that she had been killed. Police asked him to take a polygraph test on the morning his wife’s body was found, but Russ refused.