Man Sought in Staged Death Held in Texas

A man who allegedly faked his death in a Glendale doctor’s office as part of a $1.5-million insurance scam was arrested Monday in Texas, authorities said.

Melvin Hanson, who had been the subject of a nationwide hunt, was picked up by U.S. Customs Service officials at the Dallas-Ft. Worth airport on suspicion of having a forged passport, said Columbus, Ohio, Police Detective James Lanfear.

Hanson was jailed in Ft. Worth awaiting arraignment on a federal fugitive warrant. He faces state charges in Ohio. Hanson is a co-founder of the Columbus-based athletic clothing stores Just Sweats.

Lanfear said police believe that Hanson was returning from Acapulco, where he went to see a plastic surgeon.

Hanson, 47, and his business partner, John B. Hawkins, 25, both of Ohio, have been wanted by Ohio and California authorities since mid-1988, when it was discovered that Hanson was alive and that Hawkins had disappeared. Hawkins also faces a federal fugitive warrant.

Glendale and Los Angeles authorities launched a homicide investigation after learning that a man who died in the Glendale office of Dr. Richard P. Boggs on April 16 was not Hanson, but Ellis H. Greene, 32, of North Hollywood.

The coroner’s office released the body to Hawkins after he and Boggs identified the man as Hanson and after two of Hanson’s credit cards and a photocopy of his birth certificate were found on the body.

Hawkins ordered the body cremated the next day and as Hanson’s beneficiary, he collected $1 million in death benefits.

Boggs told police that he had known the dead man as Hanson and that the man had been his patient for six years. He said the patient had a history of heart problems. The coroner’s office had said the cause of death was inflammation of the heart but has since reopened its investigation.

Police later discovered the corpse’s identity by a fingerprint comparison. Greene, who had moved to California from Ohio, was last seen leaving a North Hollywood bar April 15, authorities said.

After officials began questioning the body’s identity, Hawkins fled in July without collecting $500,000 from two other insurance companies, authorities said. He has not been seen since.

Hanson and Hawkins also are accused of stealing about $2 million from Just Sweats, which they founded in 1985. Just Sweats has filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy laws.