Frederick Emerson Peters
Frederick Emerson Peters (1885-1959) was US impostor who wrote bad checks masquerading as scholars and famous people.
Peters began his career of passing phony checks around 1902 when he presented himself as Theodore Roosevelt II, son of contemporary US president. He used fraudulent checks for his purchases, writing them to round numbers just a couple of dollars above the prize of the purchase. Many of the fooled businesses were still impressed and even framed the checks as mementos.
Peters was eventually arrested in 1915 and sentenced for ten years in prison. He took charge of the prison library and used it to study various subjects to further his future plans.
When he was released he took a role of antique expert "R.A. Coleman" of the American Peace Society. He visited antique shops ostensibly to buy items for museum collections and again rounded off checks for his "commission". As "J.J. Morton", he bought books for universities.
Over the following years he impersonated real people like Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Booth Tarkington and Gifford Pinchot II. He was also jailed many times but always returned to his old activities later. When he was found dead in 1959, he had five checks on his pockets - all of them written for different names.
