The American Navy’s prime suspect in a corruption case eluded seize – Muricas News

A humiliation to US legislation enforcement: After slicing off the monitoring system, the important thing suspect within the biggest corruption case in US Navy historical past fled from home arrest in California, and it’s potential he’s already overseas.

Leonard Francis, additionally known as “Fats Leonard” due to his weight of greater than 150 kg, was below home arrest in San Diego and was scheduled to be sentenced in roughly three weeks after confessing to fraud and bribery throughout a trial.

However on Sunday, when Pretrial Providers workers—the federal physique in control of overseeing home arrests—arrived at Francis’ home on the native police division’s request, they had been shocked to find that he had severed the GPS ankle bracelet and vanished. His three boys who resided with him additionally vanished with out a hint.

Regulation enforcement organizations, notably the Marshals Service and the Navy’s Prison Investigation Service, then started an intensive manhunt. Photographs of Francis had been shared on social media and alerts had been issued at shut border crossings with Mexico, at sea and air ports, but it surely’s potential that Francis could have left the nation.

The most important corruption probe in US Navy historical past resulted within the arrest of Francis, a former protection contractor with Malaysian citizenship, in 2013. He acknowledged shopping for journeys, categorized info, and delicate contracts from navy officers in change for his or her help in directing ships to the ports he managed within the Far East. Most of the tons of of sailors who had been detained within the case—together with prime officers—had been charged with receiving bribes.