John Edgar Birdwell: West U-Bred Ex-Con in Trouble Again, This Time for (Allegedly) Stealing Jewelry from Sleeping Date

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What's shakin'? Trouble. Again.

​ Let this be a lesson to all you online daters out there...Always run a records check on the people you choose to bring home, and if their name turns up nothing at all via Google, be afraid. Very, very afraid.

According to a criminal complaint filed over the weekend, an area woman failed to perform that due diligence on 48-year-old West University-bred ex-con John Edgar Birdwell, and now she is out two rings, two necklaces and an anklet valued at $1,900.

According to the complaint, the woman met Birdwell, who identified himself as John Blidwell, on an online dating site in mid-November. (A search of the name "John Blidwell" turns up zilch on Google, at least in the way of a person alive today in Texas.)

The woman met Birdwell in person on December 17. On December 19, he spent the night. Perhaps he sold her with some version of this allegedly autobiographical malarkey that he has posted on his Facebook page:

I am 6ft 210lbs dark hair brown eyes hard body work out 4 to 5 times a week dont smoke Cut down on the drinking and in import sales and master trainer LMTherapist and other internet and helping my good friend doctor Jeff Chementi with his independent movie and locating a major studio and producers for the next big box office motion picture im really laid back now grew up in west university and have lived in this area off and on all my life looking to write a autobiography and a ultimate work out book and video never been married i have one daughter in the woodlands and waiting to find the love of my life have had alot of relationships and they were good and some bad its time to set some goals and make a mark and travel and have the time of your life but in all reality im a real person and a manly man

At any rate, the woman would later tell police that after their first night together, Birdwell had commented on what a hard sleeper she was. She would not find out the full import of that remark until New Year's Eve, when Birdwell would allegedly take full advantage.

That was when the couple went out for dinner and drinks and then returned to her apartment to watch the ball drop in Times Square on TV. The woman said she went to bed shortly thereafter because she was on call for her job as an air hostess. Nothing seemed amiss.

But when she woke at 5:30 a.m., she noticed that Birdwell was gone, as was almost $2K in gold jewelry. Alarmed, the woman tried to call Birdwell, but he had deleted (almost) all traces of his contact information from her phone and the Web site through which they had met.

Fortunately for the woman, Birdwell had missed a text message, so she still had a number she could turn over to police, which she did.

After fruitlessly searching for a "John Blidwell," a Houston cop dialed the number the woman gave him, and someone named "John" answered. The cop stated his business and Birdwell admitted that he knew the woman. He repeated several times that he had met her through a dating service and wanted nothing whatsoever to do with her. Birdwell did admit that he had been at the woman's apartment on the night her jewelry had leapt from her body and walked out the door, but waxed sarcastic when the cop asked him if he had anything to do with that.

"Yeah, right," the complaint has Birdwell saying. "How could I take her jewelry while she was sleeping?"

The cop then asked Birdwell to furnish his last name, whereupon Birdwell hung up. The cop called back twice more. Birdwell did not pick up, and neither did he return the cop's recorded message.

Meanwhile, the woman remembered that Birdwell had once used a credit card to pay for a dinner at Ling's in the Kingwood area. The cop called the restaurant manager, who furnished him Birdwell's true name. The cop then pulled Birdwell's driver's license photo and an array of mugshots from Birdwell's very lengthy criminal history. The woman picked Birdwell's photo out of the array the cop presented her.

A warrant for his arrest has been sworn, and he faces a charge of felony theft.

Also according to the complaint, another woman once filed a similar jewelry theft complaint against Birdwell, but that's just the tip of the iceberg for this guy.