FBI Unveils 8-Person Most Wanted Fraudsters List, Offering $150,000 Reward

Q: How did a couple on the FBI's Most Wanted list use an extremist group to escape and evade capture for years?

John and Julieanne Dimitrion allegedly escaped by relying on help from the sovereign-citizen extremist group Republic for the united States of America, or RuSA, which investigators say arranged and financed their flight from Hawaii. According to retired FBI agent Tom Simon and the additional reporting, the escape was staged in December 2010. John Dimitrion reportedly posed as a seriously ill epileptic patient on a gurney connected to fake medical equipment, while Julieanne Dimitrion posed as his nurse. They were then wheeled onto a privately chartered jet that flew them from Oahu to Utah. The plane was reportedly paid for by RuSA leader James Timothy Turner, who had been in contact with John Dimitrion online. After landing in Utah, investigators believe the couple drove to southern Alabama, near Turner’s base of operations, and stayed in a mobile home near Lake Eufaula. By the time authorities traced them there, they had vanished again. Officials say the Dimitrions have managed to avoid arrest for years by staying mobile and limiting traceable communications. Investigators believe they used burner phones and internet calling platforms similar to Skype to keep in touch with relatives in Hawaii without revealing their location. The case has become one of the most striking examples on the FBI’s new Most Wanted Fraudsters list because it combined a white-collar crime case with an unusually elaborate fugitive escape plan and years of successful evasion.

3 articles · Updated · Hawaii News Now · Jun 11

Three of the eight suspects on the FBI’s first-ever fraud most-wanted list have Hawaii ties, including John and Julieanne Dimitrion, who pleaded guilty in 2009 to a mortgage scheme and disappeared before sentencing.
The FBI believes the Dimitrions fled Oahu on a private jet to Utah, then drove to Alabama; agents said they later used burner phones and Skype-like technology to stay in touch with family in Hawaii.
Michael Lizaso Marasigan, another Hawaii-linked fugitive on the list, was sentenced in absentia last month to more than 21 years in prison and ordered to pay $10 million for a Guam Shrine Club fraud.
The bureau is offering up to $150,000 for information leading to an arrest, as Hawaii ranks fifth nationally in per-capita fraud losses and reported losses in the islands have topped $106 million.