San Diego — The navy contractor who pleaded responsible to orchestrating the "Fats Leonard" corruption scandal and was underneath home arrest in San Diego is now on the run after chopping off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet over the weekend, federal authorities stated.
Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo informed CBS San Diego affiliate KFMB-TV that Leonard Glenn Francis eliminated the tracker Sunday.
After cops discovered Francis' residence empty, the San Diego Regional Fugitive Activity Pressure and the Naval Felony Investigative Service started a high-profile search, the station says, including that officers did get well the ankle bracelet.
Castillo stated neighbors witnessed U-Haul shifting vehicles coming to and from Francis' residence within the days earlier than his escape. KFMB says they did not report the exercise to authorities.
Legislation enforcement companies worldwide have been getting alerts to be looking out for Francis, together with officers at airports and border checkpoints, KFMB factors out. However officers with the U.S. Marshals conceded to the station that Francis might be wherever at this level.
Francis' protection legal professional, Devin Burstein, declined to remark to KFMB.
Francis was arrested in San Diego in 2013 and pleaded responsible in 2015 to providing $500,000 in bribes to Navy officers. In trade, the officers handed him categorised info and even went as far as redirecting navy vessels to ports that had been profitable for his Singapore-based ship servicing firm.
Prosecutors say Francis and his firm overcharged the U.S. navy by greater than $35 million for its providers.
KFMB calls it one of many largest public corruption scandals in U.S. navy historical past.
Francis has been on home arrest since a minimum of 2018 and underneath the supervision of a federal company that screens defendants who're out of custody till sentencing. He was set to be sentenced on the finish of month and confronted as much as 25 years behind bars, KFMB says.