Husband of Slain Artist Sought by S.D. Police on Embezzling Charge

San Diego Police Department homicide detectives issued a warrant Tuesday for the arrest of Charles Russ, the husband of a young artist brutally slain in February, on suspicion that he embezzled $75,000 from his mother-in-law.

Detectives said they tried to issue the arrest warrant to Russ at his sister’s house in Encinitas, where he was believed to have been living, but were told he was in New Mexico.

Sgt. Hank Olais said the decision to arrest Russ stemmed from the ongoing investigation into the death of Pamela Russ, whose battered body was found lying along North Torrey Pines Road in February. Described by friends as a blue-eyed beauty, the 33-year-old woman had been run over by her own cream-colored Mercedes, which was left abandoned along the road.

Olais said Russ is suspected of taking the money from Ginger Allen, the mother of Pamela Russ, “under false pretenses.” Allen accumulated the funds by taking out a $75,000 mortgage on her Encinitas home.

While Russ told Allen that the money would be put into an investment account that would yield a high rate of return, he instead invested it in his own businesses, Olais said. Russ has since sold the telemarketing businesses and has not returned the money to Allen, who says the funds represent her life savings.

“This arrest warrant is only a part of the very complex investigation into the death of Pamela Russ,” Olais said, adding that there is “a possibility that more complaints will be filed.” He declined to comment further.

In May, Allen filed a lawsuit against Russ in an effort to retrieve the funds. Earlier this month, a San Diego Superior Court judge issued an order forbidding Russ from spending $600,000 in life insurance money due him from policies taken out on his wife, saying there was “a reasonable likelihood” that Allen would prevail in the lawsuit.

Robert Moore, the El Cajon attorney representing Allen, said the 66-year-old widow needs the money soon because a balloon payment is due on the mortgage next year.

John Thompson, a San Diego lawyer representing Russ in the civil suit filed by Allen, could not be reached for comment after police announced that Russ was being sought.

But in an interview Tuesday before the announcement, Thompson said police and the Allen family were using “innuendo” to link his client to the death of Pamela Russ.

Noting that Allen had rejected a settlement in the civil case, Thompson said the family and detectives seemed intent on using the lawsuit to hound Charles Russ into confessing to a slaying he did not commit.

“It’s beginning to look like they’re going to use every possible method available to them to ensure that his life is made miserable,” Thompson said.