A man who had been a fugitive for nearly two decades after fleeing federal supervision in Northeast Ohio was arrested Monday in Florida by U.S. Marshals.
According to a release from the U.S. Marshals Service in Cleveland, members of a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested Craig Scanlon, 68, late Monday afternoon in Miami Beach. Scanlon had been on the run for 18 years.
Federal court records show Scanlon pleaded guilty in 2001 to charges of mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property and money laundering after embezzling nearly $700,000 from clients, authorities said. A U.S. District Court judge in Akron sentenced Scanlon to serve 46 months in federal prison and then complete three years of supervised release.
While on supervised release in the fall of 2007, Scanlon fled and had not been seen publicly since, investigators said.
Over the years, authorities pursued leads on Scanlon’s whereabouts in Ohio, Florida and Texas. In recent weeks, investigators with the Northern Ohio Violent Fugitive Task Force believed they had located Scanlon living and working in Miami Beach.
Investigators determined Scanlon was working as a personal trainer and hotel manager in the 6500 block of Collins Avenue and was living at the hotel he managed, authorities said.
When officers approached him, Scanlon initially provided a false name — “August Brooke” — before admitting his true identity, according to the Marshals Service.
Scanlon remains in custody in South Florida and is expected to be returned to Northern Ohio to appear in federal court.
“Incredible work by investigators here in Ohio as well as in Florida led to the ultimate capture of a fugitive who thought he could disappear under a fake name and life in the Miami sun,” U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott said in a statement. “The Marshals Service will not stop looking for fugitives, no matter how long and how far they run.”