Actor Austin St. John has found himself in trouble with the feds this week. The actor, aged 47, was picked up at his home Thursday morning for conspiracy to commit wire fraud. If convicted, St. John can face 20 years in federal prison. A representative for St. John did not immediately respond to Entertainment Weekly, another news outlet to cover the story, request for comment.
Originally born Jason Lawrence Geiger, St. John is known to Power Ranger fans as Jason Lee Scott, the original Red Ranger in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. The show’s premise is that a team of teenagers with attitude get recruited to save their hometown from an evil witch named Rita Repulsa and later Lord Zedd, Emperor of all he sees, and their various kinds of monsters. The show premiered in 1993 and ran for three seasons, ending in 1995. However, that wasn’t the last that viewers would see of St. John, who returned to the not unsubstantial franchise over the years as his character became the Gold Ranger.
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Going on to make cameos in some of the other Power Rangers shows over the years, St. John also appeared in Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie. This 1997 film launched the Power Rangers Turbo television series. Besides that, St. John regularly turned up for fan conventions and events for signings and photos.
Austin St. John is Charged With Wire Fraud
On Wednesday, a press release by U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston and the Department of Justice announced the arrests of 18 individuals, including St. John. One of the defendants, Michael Hill, is alleged to have recruited the other conspirators to either create a business or use an existing business to submit applications to obtain funding from the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program. The loan program that had been designed to keep businesses up and running during the COVID-19 crisis.
Another defendant, Andrew Moran, is alleged to have helped the other individuals in fabricating supporting documentation, including applying through the government’s online portals. Once they obtained the desired funds using false information, the money didn’t use the funds as intended. Instead, the co-conspirators spent the loans on personal purchases. All in all, the conspirators are alleged to have received 16 loans and at least $3.5 million in total. If convicted, St. John wouldn’t be the first actor from the Power Rangers-verse to face such legal troubles.
Skylar Deleon, who had a non-speaking role as a child actor on Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, was convicted in 2008 of three counts of first-degree murder. He was convicted of killing Tom Hawks, 57, and his wife, 47, and John Jarvi, 45. Then there was Ricardo Medina Jr., originally from Power Rangers Wild Force. Medina played the Red Lion Wild Force Ranger and also voiced the character of Deker during the later series Power Rangers Samurai. Medina was sentenced in 2017 for fatally stabbing his roommate Josh Sutter with a sword multiple times.
