This needed poster supplied by the U.S. Marshals Service exhibits Leonard Francis, also called “Fats Leonard,” who was on dwelling confinement, and allegedly lower off his GPS ankle monitor and left his dwelling on the morning of Sept. 4, 2022.

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AP

This needed poster supplied by the U.S. Marshals Service exhibits Leonard Francis, also called “Fats Leonard,” who was on dwelling confinement, and allegedly lower off his GPS ankle monitor and left his dwelling on the morning of Sept. 4, 2022.

AP

SAN DIEGO — Three weeks earlier than he confronted sentencing, the Malaysian protection contractor on the heart of one of many greatest bribery investigations in U.S. navy historical past made an escape as gorgeous and brazen because the case itself: U-Haul vehicles had been seen at his dwelling in a tony San Diego neighborhood earlier than Leonard Glenn Francis, often known as “Fats Leonard,” snipped off his ankle monitor and disappeared.

Almost a dozen U.S. legislation enforcement businesses had been trying to find Francis on Tuesday. However officers acknowledged he could already be in Mexico, and probably on his means again to Asia.

4 years in the past, U.S. District Courtroom Decide Janis Sammartino feared Francis would possibly run off when she turned down his lawyer’s request to permit him to be beneath home arrest with out round the clock safety guards watching the ailing protection contractor. On the time, Francis was cooperating with prosecutors as they pursued fees towards dozens of Navy officers who accepted bribes in change for categorised info that gave Francis’ ship servicing enterprise in Asia an edge in getting navy contracts.

When requested in regards to the daring escape Tuesday, his lawyer, Devin Burstein, who pushed for extra leniency for his shopper, mentioned: “Right now, I’ve no remark, sorry.”

Sammartino repeatedly maintained that Francis, who was sick and wanted medical care, might solely stay beneath home arrest if non-public safety guards had been on web site. At one level she expressed concern that if he had been to flee and ended up “again in Malaysia for no matter motive,” her title would come up if anybody requested “who let any person do that with none safety,” in response to a transcript of a closed-door listening to in February 2018 that was unsealed in January.

She raised related issues in one other listening to on Dec. 17, 2020, after receiving a report that the house was left with out anybody guarding it for almost three hours, in response to the courtroom transcript. The guard mentioned he had been on a protracted lunch break, and Francis apologized to the decide for the mishap.

It was unclear if round the clock safety guards had been nonetheless in place this weekend.

The U.S. Legal professional’s workplace in San Diego declined to remark, referring calls to the U.S. Marshals Service. Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal, Omar Castillo, mentioned his officers discovered no safety officers on the dwelling once they arrived Sunday afternoon, almost seven hours after Francis is believed to have eliminated his ankle monitor with heavy scissors. The gadget was discovered within the dwelling.

Castillo mentioned somebody referred to as the San Diego police division, which despatched officers to the house shortly earlier than 2 p.m. to examine on it. Castillo mentioned he didn’t know who made the decision. After discovering the house empty, police contacted U.S. Pre-Trial Providers, the federal company accountable for his confinement, which then referred to as the U.S. Marshals Service.

Castillo mentioned he didn’t know if safety guards had been nonetheless ordered to be there. He mentioned neighbors reported seeing U-Haul vehicles coming and going from the house one or two days earlier than the escape. Pre-Trial Providers declined to remark or reply questions.

The house is a couple of 40-minute drive from the Mexican border, the place automobiles stream into Tijuana and are solely stopped randomly. Castillo mentioned Mexican authorities have been placed on alert and 10 U.S. legislation enforcement businesses at native, state and federal ranges had been trying to find Francis on Tuesday.

Castillo mentioned GPS ankle displays are straightforward to take away and don’t cease individuals from escaping. He added that he wouldn’t be shocked if Francis was already in Mexico since it’s straightforward to drive into the nation and never be stopped.

“That is the danger that’s taken when defendants are on GPS monitoring, you already know,” he mentioned. “They do not all lower off their GPS bracelets, however this could occur.”

It was a stunning flip in a case already filled with surprising revelations.

Almost a decade in the past, Francis was arrested in a San Diego lodge as a part of a federal sting operation. Investigators say he and his firm, Glenn Protection Marine Asia, bilked the Navy out of greater than $35 million by shopping for off dozens of top-ranking Navy officers with booze, intercourse, lavish events and different presents. In change the officers, together with the first active-duty admiral to be convicted of a federal crime, hid the scheme during which Francis would overcharge for supplying ships or cost for pretend companies at ports he managed in Southeast Asia.

The case, which delved into salacious particulars about service members dishonest on their wives and in search of out prostitutes, was a humiliation to the Pentagon. It was prosecuted by the U.S. legal professional’s workplace, which provided an impartial authority from the navy justice system.

Francis was scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 22 after working with prosecutors for years, resulting in dozens of convictions.

All that cooperation will imply nothing now, however Francis could also be onerous to catch, given his wealth and huge worldwide connections, mentioned Jason Forge, a former federal prosecutor in San Diego who labored on quite a few high-profile corruption instances.

“He would not strike me as the kind of particular person beneath these circumstances to make a spontaneous choice,” Forge mentioned. “I am assuming this implies he has deliberate issues out and he has the wherewithal to take action. He’ll in all probability be a free chicken for awhile.”