Military veteran indicted on new federal charges for faking his death in AL, records show Judge's gavel in a courtroom, stack of law books. (wp paarz/Flickr)
A Moss Point military veteran who faked his own death in 2018 to avoid prison time for alleged sex crimes in Jackson County faces new federal charges, this time related to the death hoax in Alabama.
A federal grand jury in Mobile has indicted Jacob Blair Scott, 45, on federal charges of false communication of a distress call, illegal shipment and transportation of a firearm by a person under indictment and providing false or misleading information regarding the use of a firearm.
He is scheduled for a court hearing on the new charges next week in U.S. District Court in Mobile.
Each of the charges is punishable by up to 5 years each and a $250,000 fine.
All of the new charges are related to Scott’s attempt at faking his own death on July 18, 2018.
After his disappearance, the U.S. Coast Guard and law enforcement officials in Orange Beach, Alabama, responded after finding Scott’s abandoned dinghy boat along with what appeared to be a suicide note, a small amount of blood and a .380-caliber handgun tied to his boat. His 1999 Toyota 4-Runner was found parked nearby.
Alabama authorities spent weeks searching for his remains.
But almost two years later, after national publicity, a tip led authorities to find him living in an RV park in Oklahoma. He had been using the name of a friend and fellow veteran.
The charge of false communication of a distress call accuses him of causing state and federal authorities to respond to a call for help when help wasn’t needed. He is facing the federal firearms charge for possessing weapons after he had been indicted on felony charges in Mississippi.
The charge for providing false statements accuses him of providing false information to authorities by faking his own death.
A $45,000 wire transfer
Shortly after his disappearance, authorities in Mississippi learned Scott had two bank accounts — one at The People’s Bank and another at The First Bank.
A search of the two accounts revealed that a $47,000 wire transfer had been made into one of Scott’s bank accounts on June 13, 2018. The following day, records show, Scott wrote a personal check for $45,000 and cashed it.
Scott’s disappearance came just days before he was set to plead guilty to sex crimes charges in Jackson County. He had been indicted on 14 felony charges, including one count accusing him of filming the minor girl engaged in sex acts.
The girl became pregnant, and a paternity test later confirmed Scott was the father of the child.
A tip led to his arrest
Scott’s time on the run ended after he was named one of the U.S. Marshal’s top 15 most wanted fugitives and a $25,000 reward was offered for his arrest.
After the case was featured on “In-Pursuit with John Walsh,” on Jan. 29, 2020, a tip led authorities to the campground in Antlers, Oklahoma, where he was arrested.
He had been living in a camper and doing odd jobs around the town prior to his arrest.
‘A survivalist’
Shortly after Scott’s disappearance, the mother of the girl who got pregnant told the Sun Herald she had long suspected Scott had faked his death because he had said he would never go to prison for any crime.
When authorities found Scott in Oklahoma, he had taken on the identity of a former co-worker at Chevron’s Pascagoula Refinery.
After his capture, Scott was extradited from Oklahoma back to Mississippi to face charges.
Scott is being held at the Peal River County jail pending his court appearance on the new federal charges in Alabama.
___
(c) 2022 The Sun Herald
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
