Puzzle of Mystery Man’s Death Stymies FBI Fraud Probe

The bizarre circumstances surrounding the death of a mystery man in a Glendale doctor’s office, in connection with what appears to be an elaborate insurance fraud and embezzlement scheme, has stymied an FBI investigation into the case.

Doug Ogden, head of the FBI office in Columbus, Ohio, said agents there are looking into possible federal violations stemming from the unusual case--such as mail fraud or interstate transportation of stolen property--but can do little more at this point.

“It’s a strange case, believe me,” Ogden said in an telephone interview. “We really don’t know what we have here. . . . We don’t have warrants for anybody because nobody has proven there’s been any crime.”

Police in Glendale and Columbus are frustrated by the same problem.

The case surfaced in July when Glendale police discovered that the man who allegedly died of heart problems in a Glendale doctor’s office in April is not who his doctor and his supposed business partner said he was.

The doctor, Glendale internist and neurologist Richard P. Boggs, said he treated the man for about seven years and knew him as Melvin E. Hanson, a 46-year-old businessman from Columbus.

The purported business partner, John B. Hawkins, flew to Glendale the day after the death and identified the body as that of his partner Hanson.

The dead man had in his wallet two credit cards and a photocopy of a birth certificate identifying him as Melvin E. Hanson. That identification, backed by corroborations from the doctor and business partner, was more than enough proof for the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, which released the body to Hawkins.

Hawkins then ordered the body cremated and collected on a $1-million life insurance policy, of which he was the sole beneficiary.

It was not until July that the curiosity of a Glendale officer was piqued during a telephone conversation with Hanson’s insurance company, prompting the officer to check the dead man’s identity with the California Department of Motor Vehicles.

The police inquiry revealed that the photograph and thumbprint on Hanson’s driver’s license did not match those of the dead man.

The discovery prompted the coroner’s office to reopen the case last month. Police officers in Glendale and Columbus said they believe Hanson is alive.

Police in Columbus said Hawkins disappeared in July after embezzling $1.8 million from an ailing sportswear business he and Hanson owned with a third partner.

Glendale officers said they have no suspects, essentially because to date there is no evidence that a crime was committed within their jurisdiction. The fraud bureau of the California Department of Insurance is conducting an independent investigation, a spokesman for the department said.

“There is a body in California,” Ogden said. “No one knows who it is. There is some money that’s been paid, but there’s no proof that it was stolen. All things have to be proven first before we can indict somebody and get a warrant. . . . We’d like to find them, but quite frankly, its not to the point where we can start a manhunt.”

Pat Smith, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office, said a second autopsy on the now-unidentified body has been ordered. Although the body was cremated, vital organs were routinely preserved in case later examinations were ordered, police said.

Meanwhile, prosecutors in Ohio have called for an investigation by the Franklin County Grand Jury into the alleged embezzlement.