Feds Arrest Babe Ruth for Financial Fraud, Impersonating Baseball Players

A man named Babe Ruth has been arrested and charged with allegedly stealing the identities of baseball players to make fraudulent claims for payouts and class action settlements, reported The New York Times.

Babe Ruth Has Been Arrested

Appropriately given the pending charges, the Babe Ruth in question is not the legendary baseball pitcher who died in 1948 at 53. The suspect’s name is George Herman Ruth, a 69-year-old man from Morrisville, Tennessee, who is currently facing 91 charges in connection with allegedly stealing the names of more than 100 retired or deceased MLB stars in an attempt to make money through settlements. Authorities are unclear at this time whether Ruth was born George Herman Ruth or changed his name at some point.

Ruth Is Charged With Nearly 100 Offenses

Morris has been charged with a litany of offenses including aggravated identity theft, mail fraud, the fraudulent use of multiple Social Security numbers, money laundering, making false statements to his probation officer, and possessing firearms after having previously been convicted of felonies.

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According to the indictment against Ruth, the suspect earned as much as $550,000 through his alleged schemes. Those reportedly included such disparate claims as disputing the price of contact lenses to filing a racial discrimination suit against an employment agency. Authorities claim that Ruth used about one dozen P.O. boxes in various cities throughout the state registered to himself and erroneous businesses to communicate with class action administrators and file the claims, using the names of baseball players and the Social Security numbers of other victims.

Ruth Was Previously Convicted of Similar Crimes

Ruth has previously faced similar charges, having once plead guilty to a Social Security fraud scheme. He was sent to prison in 2020 before being released on probation in October 2023. Ruth completed his probation last month.