Date

Event

October 22, 1959

James Hogue is born in Kansas City, Kansas, the son of Eugene and Maria Hogue.

1975-1977

Hogue attends Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas.He competes for the school cross country team and sets a national four-mile record. In 1977 he leads the team to its second consecutive league title and wins the Kansas City individual title.

1977

Hogue graduates from Washington High School and is recruited to run at the University of Wyoming in Laramie, then one of the nation’s top collegiate running programs.

1977-1979

Hogue enrolls at the University of Wyoming and competes for the Cross Country Team. He trains with a number of world-class Kenyan runners who have also been recruited to the team. Hogue performs poorly on the team.

1979

Hogue drops out of the University of Wyoming and returns to Kansas City.

1979, 1983-1984

Hogue briefly enrolls in a community college and, later, the University of Texas at Austin. He studies chemical engineering, but fails to graduate.

January 21, 1983

Hogue is arrested for theft in Austin and is placed on probation for thirty six months.

1984-1985

Hogue lives briefly in Colorado.

September 10, 1985

Hogue assumes the name Jay Mitchell Huntsman and enrolls in the Palo Alto High School senior class.He purports to be sixteen years old, and tells classmates that he is a self-taught orphan from a Nevada commune. He is popularly known as the “Mystery Boy.”

October 7, 1985

Hogue/Huntsman wins the prestigious Stanford Invitational Cross Country Meet as a member of the Palo Alto High School Cross Country team. He tells classmates that his goal is to win a track scholarship to Stanford University.

October 25, 1985

Palo Alto Police reveal that Jay Huntsman is actually twenty-six year old James Hogue, and that the real Jay Huntsman died in infancy in 1969. Hogue is asked to leave Palo Alto High School, and is held briefly in juvenile hall.

May 14, 1986

Still in Palo Alto, Hogue is arrested for forging checks and later receives a ninety day jail sentence. A bench warrant is issued for his arrest after he violates his probation.

May 1986-May 1987

Hogue teaches running at Jim Davis’ Cross Training Clinic in Vail, Colorado. He claims falsely to have a Ph.D. in bio-engineering from Stanford University.

August 1987 – October 1987

Hogue lives and works with custom bicycle frame builder Dave Tesch in San Marcos California.

October 1987

Hogue burglarizes Tesch’s bicycle company and steals $20,000 in tools and bike frames.

1987

Hogue moves to St. George, Utah.

November 25, 1987

Using the name Alexi Indris Santana, Hogue submits a fraudulent application for admission to Princeton University. He claims to be an eighteen year old self-educated Utah ranch hand.

March, 1988

Hogue/Santana takes a recruiting trip to Princeton University and meets with Track Coach Larry Ellis and admissions officers.

March 30, 1988

Acting on a search warrant, police detective Matt Jacobson arrests Hogue at a storage facility in St. George, Utah. Hogue is charged with possessing stolen bicycle frames. Det. Jacobson also discovers applications to various Ivy League universities with the name Alexi Indris Santana on them.

April, 1988

Alexi Santana’s application to Princeton University is accepted. He is awarded a $15,000 academic scholarship.

May 19, 1988

James Hogue pleads guilty to receiving stolen property. He begins serving a six month sentence at the Utah State Prison.

May 26, 1988

Hogue writes to Princeton as Alexi Santana and requests a one year deferment because his mother is dying of leukemia in Switzerland. Princeton grants the deferment.

December, 1988

Hogue is released from prison and begins serving a six month term at a halfway house in Salt Lake City, Utah.

June, 1989

James Hogue absconds parole in Utah and moves to Princeton. He spends the summer working on a University grounds crew and participates in the Freshman Summer Orientation Program.

August 6, 1989

The Trenton Times publishes an article about incoming Princeton student and star runner Alexi Santana. The headline reads: “A Different Path to Glory: Princeton’s Self-Educated Santana Blazing a New Trail.”

August 18, 1989

The state of Utah issues a fugitive warrant for Hogue’s arrest.

September, 1989

Hogue/Santana enters Princeton University’s as a member of the class of 1993. Hogue competes for the University track team and lives in Holder Hall dormitory.

January, 1991

Hogue/Santana is admitted to the Ivy Club, Princeton’s most selective private eating club.

February 16, 1991

While competing at the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Track Meet in New Haven, Connecticut, a Yale senior, Renee Pacheco, recognizes Hogue from Palo Alto High School. Pacheco notifies her former track coach, who notifies Peninsula Times Tribute reporter Jason Cole. Princeton University officials receive a tip from Cole that Alexi Santana is actually James Hogue.

February 26, 1991

Det. John Reading of the Princeton Police Department arrests Hogue in a geology lab in 154 Guyot Hall on the Princeton Campus. Hogue is charged with forgery, wrongful impersonation and falsifying records.

February 27, 1991

Det. Reading interrogates James Hogue.

March 5, 1991

Hogue is arraigned at the Mercer County Superior Courthouse. He pleads not guilty.

April, 1991

Hogue is indicted on fourteen separate counts relating to the Princeton deception. He is incarcerated until he posts $25,000 bail.

February 10, 1992

Hogue pleads guilty to theft-by-deception in a bargain with prosecutors.

August, 1992

Hogue enrolls in a Harvard University Extension program, and is hired by the Harvard Mineralogical Museum.

October 23, 1992

Hogue receives a 270 day sentence and five years probation but appeals his sentence. He is also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $21,124 to Princeton University.

December, 1992

Hogue receives credit for prison time served, but is ordered to serve the remaining portion of his term.

May 10, 1993

Hogue is arrested in Sommerville, Massachusetts and charged with possession of stolen property. Police recover gemstones, microscopes and other scientific equipment.

December 27, 1993

Hogue is convicted of larceny and receiving stolen property in Sommerville, Massachusetts District Court. He is jailed in Massachusetts until his transfer to New Jersey on January 25, 1994.

January 1994 – September 1995

Hogue is incarcerated in the Mercer County Correctional Facility and charged with violating his probation.

February 19, 1996

Hogue is arrested on the Princeton University campus and charged with trespassing after claiming to be a graduate student named Jim MacAuthor. He is charged with a parole violation.

March 1996 – January 1997

Hogue is again incarcerated in the Mercer County Correctional Facility.

1997

Hogue moves to Aspen, Colorado.

July 15, 1997

Hogue is arrested in Aspen for bicycle theft. He is sentenced to one year in jail.

November, 1999

Hogue agrees to participate in filmmaker Jesse Moss’ documentary about his life.

May 30, 2000

Hogue is arrested by the Telluride Police Department and charged with theft. He pleads guilty, and is fined $1500.

October, 2001

The film is completed.