Convicted Military Contractor 'Fat Leonard' Flees Prior To Sentencing

SAN DIEGO, CA — A military contractor who has pleaded guilty to bribing U.S. Navy officials as part of a wide-ranging corruption scheme and was due to be sentenced in two weeks went on the lam over the Labor Day weekend, authorities reported Tuesday.

Leonard Glenn "Fat Leonard" Francis, who had been under house arrest for several years, allegedly cut off a GPS monitor he was required to wear and disappeared Sunday morning, according to the U.S. Marshals Service.

U.S. Pretrial Services, the federal agency in charge of monitoring Francis' home confinement, received an alert that his GPS ankle monitor was being tampered with, according to Omar Castillo, the supervisory deputy U.S. marshal for the Southern District of California.

Pretrial Services notified the U.S. Marshals about the GPS alert.

Members of the U.S. Marshals San Diego Fugitive Task Force went to Francis' residence in an attempt to locate him. After announcing themselves, task force officers made entry into the residence through an unlocked door. After a thorough check of the residence, officers were unable to locate Francis. Officers were able to locate the GPS ankle monitor that had been cut off, Castillo said.

Francis' whereabouts are unknown, according to Castillo.

Francis, 58, was scheduled to be sentenced in the wide-ranging corruption case on Sept. 22.
Francis pleaded guilty in 2015 to bribing Navy officers with cash and prostitutes in exchange for classified information, persuading them to direct aircraft carriers to ports he controlled so they could be resupplied by his Singapore-based company. He also admitted overcharging the U.S. military in an amount exceeding $35 million.

Anyone who might be able to help authorities locate Francis is asked to call the Marshals Service at 877-926-8332 or provide information anonymously via the USMS Tips App.

— City News Service