Parole Revoked For "Imposter Foster" Jerome Kingrussell, Criminally Participated In Mortgage Fraud At 1564 Hillside Ave. N., Further Details...

Creative stock photo, (1564 Hillside Ave. N. is NOT pictured, that place looked WORSE) blog post by John Hoff

Yesterday's blog post on this topic captured a bit of the courtroom drama and the final score: Jerome Kingrussell, the "imposter Foster" who took on the identity and creditworthiness of John Foster, just couldn't keep his nose clean on parole and is now headed to prison for 108 months.

But, like the real John Foster who had an outrageously good line of credit, this "imposter Foster" has his own credit: 1173 days already served, and applied against his sentence. Somewhere there's a felon wishing he could be an "imposter Kingrussell" and get access to that line of "incarceration credit."

Melony Michaels was present in the courtroom and...


...took, in her own words, "copious notes." Michaels is the spitfire, force-of-personality wife of identity theft victim John Foster, who launched her own amateur criminal investigation and ultimately handed the ball off to official criminal investigators with the Bloomington Police Department. Unlike many of my blog sources, who quite understandably prefer to provide information but remain behind the scenes, Melony Michaels prefers to be open about being a source.

Michaels currently has a civil suit against actual and alleged participants in the crime, including Kingrussell, Larry Maxwell, and former JACC executive director Jerry Moore.

Phone Call From Iowa Casino Was Harbinger Of A Life Turned Inside Out

BEFORE John Foster received mail in regard to property taxes on a house he'd never heard of, which is often where the story of this mortgage fraud seems to begin, there was a phone call from a casino in Iowa. Somebody had cashed a check at the casino using a drivers license with John Foster's name and address. Only after the check was cashed and "John Foster" had walked away did a detective at the casino realize the Minnesota drivers license said "John V. Foster."

However, drivers licenses in Minnesota spell out the full middle name of the licensee. The license was a fake. Going out of his way to be helpful, the detective notified John Foster and his wife that somebody was using John's identity. So when the mail arrived saying John Foster owned a property he never heard of, Melony Michaels was already somewhat on a state of alert. This made a huge difference in how events played out. It might have made the difference between two houses being purchased using John's identity, versus FOUR houses.

Michaels is very grateful to that detective, who went out of his way to inform a victim of identity theft.

Yesterday, in court, Jerome Kingrussell admitted that he used John Foster's identity in more than one state, not just Minnesota.

A Career Criminal With "Lots Of Names"

Melony described Kingrussell as "pale," hardly surprising since Kingrussell stated he'd not been outdoors since August of 2010. Kingrussell's blonde hair had a lot more gray in it. Kingrussell "put his head down slightly" a lot during the hearing. When it became apparent Kingrussell was going to prison for a long time, he didn't strongly react. Maybe his head went down a little further and stayed down a little longer, but that was it.

Contrary to my earlier off-the-cuff commentary that, at least in the courtroom, Kingrussell had a couple more hours of freedom while his lawyer burned up the clock, it turns out Kingrussell was confined inside a cage like structure, with Plexiglass, within Courtroom 1159.

There was some slightly caustic commentary--Melony heard a piece of it--about what name Kingrussell would be using during the proceeding. The question about his actual legal name came up and Kingrussell actually brightened, a bit, saying he had "lots of names" the way a child might brag he had many action figures.

While in Stillwater State Prison, back in 1994, a fellow named Daniel Lance Whipps decided he wanted to be Jerome Lance Kingrussell. Incredibly, the court allowed it. (82-CO-94-000506, In the Matter of the application Daniel Lance Whipps for Change of Name)

This wasn't the first name change. Daniel (who became Jerome) was apparently born Lance Returner Brusven, but was adopted.

Under the name Daniel Lance Whipps, I find a ridiculous number of charges on MINCIS, going as far back as 1989.

86-K0-89-000509
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
03/27/1989
Wright
Felony
Converted Closed
Veh Theft/Fel >$2500
UUMV/FEL/MV
Veh Theft/Fel >$2500
Burglary-Felony-Night

86-K4-89-000562
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
03/31/1989
Wright
Felony
Converted Closed
UUMV/FEL/MV

02-K9-89-008976
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
08/08/1989
Anoka
Felony
Converted Closed
RECEIVING STOLEN PROPERTY

02-K6-89-010541
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
09/14/1989
Anoka
Felony
Converted Closed
FEL THEFT-MOTOR VEHICLE

02-K0-89-013340
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
12/04/1989
Anoka
Felony
Converted Closed
M/V USE WITHOUT CONSENT

02-K4-90-010155
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
09/06/1990
Anoka
Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
FIFTH DEG ASSAULT

02-K3-92-008207
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
07/31/1992
Anoka
Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
(TCIS Amended Charge) Crime/Adm of Justice/Mi

02-KX-92-009077
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
08/25/1992
Anoka
Felony
Converted Closed
OFFERING A FORGED CHECK

71-K4-92-001435
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
10/26/1992
Sherburne
Felony
Converted Closed
CHECK FORGERY
CHECK FORGERY
OFFERING FORGED CHECK
OFFERING FORGED CHECK

86-K4-93-000260
WHIPPS, DANIEL LANCE
06/03/1971
02/08/1993
Wright
Gross Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
(TCIS Amended Charge) GMSD THEFT

WHIPPS, DANIEL THOMAS
01/21/1952
12/21/1995
Hubbard
Mondry, Jay D.
Gross Misdemeanor
Converted Closed
(TCIS Amended Charge) DANGEROUS WEAPON
1ST DEG CRIM DAMAGE PROP
2ND DEGREE ASSAULT

Of course, "Jerome Kingrussell" info comes up in the same search, since the two names are linked. So the data has to be separated, like separating chaff from, well, another kind of chaff.

The subscription website "Been Verified," which Melony Michaels uses sometimes, lists 13 different names for Kingrussell, with over 100 individual files. A judgement in a relatively minor civil suit against Kingrussell is interesting and revealing, just based on the names of the plaintiffs and the list of small towns in rural Minnesota.

Happy Hour Inn, Glencoe. Hollywood Ranch House, New Germany. King Pin Pub, Plato. Mayer Oil Company, Mayer. McCleod County Sheriff's Department, Glencoe. Mighty's Liquor Store, Plato. Plato C Store, Plato. And Rack Em Up, in New Germany.

With other people's hard earned money, during those increasingly rare moments when he is a free man, Kingrussell lives the high life. He eats, he drinks, he is merry. He revels in earthly, sensual pleasures like the king of, well, um, Glencoe, Minnesota.

You! Serving wench! Bring me another pickled turkey gizzard! 

"You Don't Like Kingrussell Much, Do You?"

During the proceeding, Kingrussell's attorney was Geoff Isaacman, a public defender. A different public defender is listed in MNCIS records but I have verified it was Isaacman at the hearing. As previously reported, there was only one prosecution witness, Amy Anderson, who was the parole officer for Kingrussell/Whipps/ Brusven/Maybe 10 Other Surnames.

The defense attorney tried to make Anderson looked neglectful and uninvolved with Kingrussell because she hadn't been frequently checking on him while he was (stomp stomp) incarcerated instead of (stomp stomp) on parole, which is when he would have needed a PAROLE OFFICER. Isaacman tried to insinuate, imply, hint, and sometimes outright accuse Anderson of not liking Kingrussell very much.

Much was made of Kingrussell's solitary journey to Minnesota from distant lands (Iowa) to testify for the prosecution in the Larry Maxwell trial. Isaacson made it sound like the charge of the light brigade, Christ's Via Dolorosa, and the sad country song Me And Emily, all wrapped into one. Who had helped Kingrussell? He had to sleep in a CAMPGROUND! Who gave him money to support himself while he "practically lived in the hallway outside the courtroom" and lost his bed at the shelter? Isaacman claimed HE HIMSELF had, at least once, given money to Kingrussell.

There was a suggestion made that the PROSECUTOR should have helped Kingrussell. If that had somehow happened, I'm sure there would have been some OTHER defense attorney making hay from that, beating the drum about how Kingrussell was getting MONEY from the PROSECUTOR.

It was very hard for Melony to sit there and stomach all this. And some level she understands, intellectually, Isaacson is doing the job of an advocate. All the same, it's difficult to hear all that self-righteous bloviation. 

"Use him and throw him away!" said Isaacson, making an impassioned argument. "Put him in prison and just WAREHOUSE him!"

Prosecutor Brad Johnson answered all the drama with a little melodrama of his own. Keep in mind Johnson is the spitting image of "Vizzini," a character in Princess Bride, click here for the infamous "battle of wits" scene. 

Hanging his head a little, referencing Kingrussell's sufferings during the Maxwell trial, Johnson said he had "one regret" and a "heavy heart" over one thing.

And then, while those listening may have expected Johnson to say something like, "We should have treated Kingrussell better. We should have at least put him up at the Super 8 motel and given him some gift certificates for the bottomless bowl of soup at Eddington's," instead Johnson said words to the effect he wish Kingrussell had done hard time BACK THEN, instead of running around loose and committing more crimes.

The defense attorney reacted to this with a grimace, perhaps sensing at some level Johnson was, how to put it? JUST SCREWING WITH HIM FOR THE FUN OF IT.

That Johnson, he has a sense of humor. I've seen it. It appears to express itself best when he takes the defense's argument and turns it upon its head, like during the Maxwell trial when Johnson took Larry Maxwell's phrase "mumbo jumbo" and redefined it as the two necessary elements to find Maxwell guilty.

Kingrussell will have a long time in prison to think about Johnson's "one regret."

My Daughter, Um, OK, Some Child I Met A Few Times

On the stand, The Man With 13 Names tried, once again, to embroider some facts. He had a girlfriend, he said. They had a daughter together. And the mother of this child had all kinds of health problems (Melony seems to recall mention of a "lung transplant," either needed or actually performed) and if Kingrussell were incarcerated, well, who would take care of his daughter?

Photo by John Hoff

This was out of left field. Johnson hadn't heard about any daughter. The elaborate tale about the health problems of the girlfriend, the daughter who might be left by herself, it was clearly eliciting some sympathy for Kingrussell.

Johnson began to question Kingrussell about it. And Kingrussell had to admit this wasn't, well, his biological daughter. Or his adopted daughter. Or in any sense his DAUGHTER except he "felt affection" for this child. Talking about the hearing later, Melony Michaels asked, rhetorically, if Kingrussell had been in jail since August of 2010, where was all this time he was supposedly putting into this relationship?

In the "fake it to make it" manner of the kids in juvie discussed in a recent blog post, Kingrussell waxed eloquent about the "cognitive training" classes he'd taken in Iowa, how he was a new man who would think of the impact of his actions on others before acting. This assertion was, however, spiked downward hard by Amy Anderson. Such cognitive training is useful, she said, for impulsive criminals. But Kingrussell's pattern shows he doesn't do things impulsively. What he does is "calculated and planned." Kingrussell is a dyed-in-the-wool career criminal. Locking him up would take him off the street and prevent crimes. As for "bettering" Kingrussell, well, Kingrussell could pursue a college degree in prison, if he liked.

Melony thought Kingrussell sounded "rehearsed" on the stand, like he'd practiced in his cell, over and over.

"A Bit Deceptive"

The judge addressed Kingrussell prior to announcing his decision and said Kingrussell was "a bit deceptive," talking about the girl who was his "daughter." Without saying so, the judge strongly implied Kingrussell had shot himself in the foot. 

Word is Kingrussell will go to St. Cloud, first, where new prisoners are oriented before the Department of Corrections figures out where to send them. Larry Maxwell is in St. Cloud. Maybe Kingrussell will have a chance to see his old buddy.

Maxwell Pays Restitution The Hard, Hard Way

Melony reports she has received about three checks from the prison system, restitution earned by Larry Maxwell from his prison job. The checks were "60 something, 100 something, and 200 something." The checks arrive quarterly. At the current rate, colonies on Mars will declare their independence before Maxwell is finished paying what he owes John Foster and Melony Michaels.

"That just about pays for all your parking associated with these trials," I told Melony, and her laugh sounded like agreement.

Perhaps in the near future Kingrussell will be sending a check to Melony and John as well. Won't that be a switch?

Kingrussell writing out a check TO John Foster, instead of AS John Foster.