These cards no joking matter

Thursday, July 1, 2004 | 9:43 a.m.

A blackjack player loves getting an eight and a three.

The two cards add up to 11, and give the player a good chance to get a 21, an unbeatable total.

Local law enforcement officials hope that the eight-three combination also improves their luck in catching a pair of fugitives wanted out of Las Vegas -- kidnap-murder suspect John Patrick Addis and kidnap-rape suspect Brian Michael Jones.

Addis' mug shot is on the eight of diamonds and Jones' is on the three of spades in the recently released America's Most Wanted Fugitive Playing Cards that are being sold on the Internet for $6.95 for a deck -- a rogue's gallery of 54 nationwide criminal suspects in all four suits, deuce to ace, plus two jokers.

"Anytime you can get a picture of a fugitive in the hands of the public it gives us an advantage," Metro Police homicide Sgt. Ken Hefner said.

"It's difficult to say how well these playing cards will do because they are something new, and we have nothing with which to compare them. However, the TV show "America's Most Wanted" is well known and its work has been effective."

Hefner said Metro's relationship with the TV show has been a productive one, noting, "They have been very supportive of our cases and have played and replayed some of our suspects several times."

The fugitive playing cards, featuring photos of the wanted men and women and key information such as their date of birth, height, weight and eye and hair color, are a joint venture of the Fox network crime-fighting show, FacePrint Global Solutions Inc. and Twentieth Century Fox studios.

"We hope that these cards serve as a tool that leads to the capture of the nation's most dangerous criminals," the show's longtime host John Walsh, whose face is featured on a bonus card in the deck, said in a news release Friday.

The cards have been on the market for several weeks and more than 15,000 decks have been sold, said Avery Mann, spokesman for "America's Most Wanted." He said he is hopeful that sales of the cards in Las Vegas will continue a trend of capturing fugitives from other states who venture here.

"There has been a disproportionate number of arrests of fugitives featured on "America's Most Wanted" in the city of Las Vegas and the state of Florida," Mann said, noting that exact numbers of captures were not immediately available.

All of the fugitives featured on the playing cards remain at large, he said.

The playing cards are modeled after the Iraq's Most Wanted Fugitive Cards released last year by the U.S. military.

"America's Most Wanted" picked for the deck a pair of Nevada fugitives who have not been seen around these parts in several years.

Addis, a 53-year-old former Alaska state trooper and survivalist, was charged in 1998 with the 1995 murder of Las Vegan Joann Albanese, whose skeletal remains were found in a remote stretch of Arizona desert.

A forensic specialist confirmed through dental records that the remains found by a hunter on Oct. 16, 1998, were those of 39-year-old Albanese, who was last seen with Addis. A Clark County grand jury indicted Addis on July 31 of that year, charging him with kidnapping and murder.

Addis at the time was going by the name John Edwards and was posing as a fitness trainer. Albanese met him five months before she disappeared, police said.

Addis had been certified as an instructor in crime scene and death investigations and is a marksman and a pilot. He also is considered adept at manufacturing false identification, police said.

Addis is 6 feet tall, weighs 200 pounds and has light brown hair and blue-green eyes, his America's Wost Wanted fugitive playing card says.

"Addis is believed to be working as a personal trainer, moving from town to town, scamming women," the playing card says.

Jones, a Las Vegas resident, surrendered to Metro Police over the Labor Day weekend in 1999, but, while awaiting trial, skipped bail and fled in September 2000, authorities said.

Jones, 47, was charged with seven counts of kidnapping, sexual assault and battery with intent to commit sexual assault stemming from an Aug. 29, 1999, attack on a stranded woman motorist near Flamingo Road and Durango Drive. Police said the woman was held for 15 to 18 hours.

Jones is 5 feet, 11 inches tall, weighs 180 pounds and has brown hair and brown eyes, his playing card says.