Gulf Shores Fire Victim Has Fake Identity

By Debbie Williams Reporter
Published: November 09 2007 - 5:13 pm
Last Updated: November 09 2007 - 5:55 pm

After Thursday's fire that burned down the Italian restaurant Nick's at Gulf Shores, the community really reached out to Nick and Cathy Cascario with offers of a place to live and a place to re-open their business according to restaurant manager Mike Loria. But, News Five has learned the people the community offered it's charity too are not who they say they are.

News Five received phones calls and e-mails from as far away as Washington State and as close as Atlanta, Georgia about Cascario. It seems they are well known, just by another name.

Their real names are Richard and Judy Morrell. According to court documents obtained by News Five, Morrell changed his name to Cascario after leaving California during a Mortgage and Real Estate fraud trial in 1982.

He was convicted of 24 counts of fraud and forgery and was on the run fro almost 12 years until his capture in Tennessee in 1993. After his release from prison he started a printer cartridge company called Holiday Ink. The Federal Trade Commission called it a scam. A class action lawsuit against the company ended last year with plaintiff's being awarded 14 million dollars. That case is being appealed.

Another interesting note, Cascario and Tommy Lunceford, the owner of the building that burned, are scheduled to be in court next week in a dispute over back rent and eviction.

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