The recent news that Austin St. John was charged with COVID-19 fraud didn’t actually surprise me. I had no idea who this man was but I knew about the Curse of the Red Power Ranger and had been waiting to see who it would take out next. St. John, who played the character Jason. was in a scheme that netted $3.5 million. Loan fraud is a serious crime that can have significant consequences for those who commit it, including fines, imprisonment, or both, as he has learned.
Strangely, this is actually the least crazy thing to happen to those associated with the accursed Red Power Ranger role. Power Rangers began as a live-action children's television series in the 1990s and features a group of young people who are chosen to fight against evil forces. Sadly, they have not fared so well with evil in their real lives.
Previous Red Power Rangers have suffered tragic lives and fates. One committed a cold-blooded double murder and robbery, another killed his roommate with a samurai sword, another Red Power Ranger beat his wife nearly to death and killed himself, and now only one final Red Power Ranger remains and he’s been on a troubling path.
What could explain this? A curse perhaps.
Curses have been a part of human history for thousands of years, and have been found in cultures all around the world. In ancient times, curses were often used to explain misfortunes and disasters and were thought to have supernatural causes.
Let’s examine the case of Skylar Deleon, convicted of a double murder. He lured his victims out to sea, forced them to sign legal documents, and then tied them to an anchor and threw them overboard. Defense lawyers claimed Deleon needed the money for a sex change. A few years later Deleon, who had been born male, attempted a sex change with a razor blade. This failed and after receiving medical attention, Deleon was returned to jail. While the belief in curses may have psychological effects on individuals or teams, it is not supported by any scientific evidence and is considered to be a form of superstition. But if there was a curse it would look like the Red Power Ranger Curse.
Another fallen TV star from Power Rangers pleaded guilty to stabbing his roommate to death with a samurai sword. Ricardo Medina killed his roommate after an argument over Medina's girlfriend. The Red Lion Wild Force Ranger’s defense team argued that after he and his roommate had come to blows in another part of the home, the actor locked himself and his girlfriend in his bedroom who then “broke through a bedroom door and charged, ”...after which Medina defended himself against the unarmed man by “stabbing him multiple times” with the samurai sword, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Curses were often invoked by religious or spiritual leaders and were believed to have the power to bring harm to individuals or entire communities. In many cultures, curses were also used as a form of punishment and were used to express anger or revenge. The tragic coincidences following the Rangers fit the pattern of what a curse is said to do.
Pua Magasiva, who played the Red Ranger on “Power Rangers Ninja Storm,” was found dead at his New Zealand home. Magasiva beat his wife so severely that she feared for her life. According to his widow, there was an escalating pattern of abuse and he threatened to harm himself or their daughter if she went to the police. On the night of his death, he savagely attacked her leaving her in need of hospitalization. On the night Pua died, she said his drunk rages returned, and "It ended with me in hospital and him taking his life," she wrote in a letter to the court. "The trauma from losing my husband is going to be with me for the rest of my life.”
With the rise of scientific and rational thinking, the belief in curses has largely been discredited, but the concept of curses still exists in many societies and is often used in literature, film, and other forms of popular culture. And now we arrive at the last Red Power Ranger standing: actor Marcus Goldfinch. As the editor of George News, a reboot of JFK Jr.’s George Magazine, Marcus is one of the most influential Qanon Insurrectionists. He was the stunt double for Pua Magasiva in Power Rangers Samurai. Goldfinch is a confirmed but not yet convicted identity thief and hacker.
His cybercrimes have been reported to the FBI, the National Intellectual Property Rights Coordination Center, the FTC, and the Albuquerque Police Department cybercrimes division. He is presently being sued by a podcast host for identity theft, defamation, hacking, and cyberstalking. These crimes could see him sentenced to prison, fined, and ordered to pay restitution to his victims.
Has the Red Power Ranger curse finally caught up to him?
Tim Ozman,
IPR, Host