Silas M. Newton (Aztec con man).
discreditedsource_actorCrash-Retrieval Cases
Confidence man (1887-1972) who fabricated the Aztec crash to sell fake 'alien-technology' oil-detection doodlebugs; convicted of fraud 1953.
Newton posed as a millionaire geophysicist but was a serial stock-and-oil fraudster with no scientific credentials. With partner Leo GeBauer ('Dr. Gee') he marketed war-surplus radio tuners as alien-derived oil detectors worth thousands. He fed the Aztec crash story to Frank Scully. Exposed by J.P. Cahn in True (1952), he was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in Denver in December 1953 and returned to fraud schemes as late as 1970. Geologist Dan Plazak documents his career in detail.