Con Man Suspect Talks His Way Out of Jail

July 26 -- San Antonio jail officials knew Carton Rich's reputation as a con man, but they admit he still managed to fool them.

Rich, who was being held in Bexar County Jail in connection with forgery charges arising from an incident in New Mexico, allegedly conned his way out by impersonating a police official over the telephone and getting his girlfriend to fax forged letters — ostensibly from authorities in New Mexico — authorizing his release.

"Mr. Rich is a con man from way back," Bexar County Sheriff's Office Deputy Chief Amadeo Ortiz said.

He was arrested last week in San Antonio on charges of credit card abuse and was about to be released on bail when authorities learned that he was also wanted on forgery charges in Deming, N.M.

With a pay phone in his cell block, though, Rich got busy, police said.

Over the next two days, investigators said, he found out who in New Mexico had the authority to get him released, then managed to make phone calls from the cell block through his girlfriend's apartment to jail officials.

He claimed to be calling from New Mexico and told the Texas jail officials that he should be released.

If those officials had any doubts, they apparently were resolved when a fax showed up, purportedly from New Mexico, saying charges against Rich had been dropped and that he should be released.

What they didn't realize and didn't notice was that the fax came from a copy store in San Antonio.

"Our personnel should have caught that," Ortiz said. "They didn't. That was one of the errors we made. I'll be the first to admit that we made an error in accepting a fax from a local copying company."

A Brand New Scheme

Perhaps the fact that the letter was on plain paper should have tipped them off, too.

"The man is very, very slick," Ortiz said. "He knew exactly what to put into the fax, but put it in without a letterhead, without any authorization."

Nevertheless, the 400-pound Rich, who also escaped from a jail in Dona Ana County, N.M., using a similar tactic a year ago, was allowed to walk out of jail on Saturday morning. With the New Mexico charge apparently dropped, the Bexar County authorities allowed him to post bail on the credit card charge.