NEW YORK -- Rosie Ruiz, who gained a dubious fame two years ago when she was stripped of her women's division victory in the Boston Marathon for allegedly cheating, was arrested Monday on charges of stealing $60,000 from her employer, police said.
And in a bizarre twist, Ruiz, 28, was arrested 30 minutes before the noon start of the 1982 Boston Marathon.
Capt. James Power of the 20th Precinct Detective Squad said Ruiz had been sought since April 5, when her employer, Richard Stephens Inc., a real estate firm in Manhattan, reported she had stolen $15,000 in cash and $45,000 in checks.
Power said Ruiz became a suspect because she had not reported to her job as a bookkeeper since mid-March.
Detectives John Kelly and Mike Rooney, acting on information they obtained during their investigation, arrested Ruiz in midtown Manhattan at 11:30 a.m., the captain said.
He said Ruiz was charged with grand larceny and forgery.
Power said Ruiz allegedly forged company checks and cashed them or took cash that she was supposed to deposit at the bank.
Ruiz gained national headlines in April 1980 when her victory in the Boston Marathon turned into a scandal after other runners and checkpoint spotters said they did not see her in the race until the finish.
Ruiz, an unknown at the time, crossed the finish line in 2:31:56 - then a women's record for the Boston race.
Two Harvard students later told race officials they saw Ruiz jump into therace about a mile and a half before the finish of the 26-mile, 385-yard marathon.
On April 29, 1980, eight days after she was crowned with the winner's laurel, race officials stripped Ruiz of her title.
Ruiz denied she had cheated and fought a desperate, public battle to keep her title.
But her claims were thrown into further doubt when charges surfaced that she had ridden a subway to the finish of the New York Marathon in October 1979.
After investigating those charges, New York Marathon officials disqualified her as finisher of that race a week before she was stripped of her Boston title. It was her alleged New York finish that had qualified Ruiz for the Boston race.
