Social Security fraud fugitive nabbed at Honduran Pizza Hut
TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras — A lawyer who spent six months on the run after pleading guilty in a $500 million Social Security fraud scheme was flown back to Kentucky on Tuesday after he was caught outside a Pizza Hut in Honduras.
Eric Conn, 57, was led away in handcuffs by Honduran police agents with ballistic vests and assault rifles, then turned over to the FBI, which flew him home in a private plane.
“As promised, Mr. Conn will now be held accountable for his actions, the people he deceived and the lives he shattered, including all the victims of his greed in eastern Kentucky,” said Amy Hess, special agent in charge of the Louisville field office for the FBI.
Conn speaks multiple languages, had crossed the border 140 times over 10 years and had told at least six people he would flee the country rather than go to jail for his crimes. Yet a federal judge released Conn on $1.25 million bail and allowed him to remain free even after he pleaded guilty in March to stealing from the federal government and bribing a judge to fix Social Security fraud cases.
Conn fled on June 2. He cut off his electronic ankle monitor and put it inside a metallic pouch designed to suppress electronic signals, authorities said. While nearly a dozen law enforcement agencies searched for the fugitive, he was sentenced in absentia last summer to a 12-year prison term — the maximum possible.
Conn faces many more years in prison if convicted of charges related to his escape.
Conn’s capture was cheered by his former clients and their families, who have struggled to make ends meet while fighting to keep their Social Security disability checks.
“That’s wonderful,” said Donna Dye, whose husband was among Conn’s clients in Appalachia. “I never thought they would catch him. He let people like my husband have trust in him, and he let that down.”
Dye’s husband, Timothy, was among the throngs of Conn’s clients who had to fight to keep their disability checks. Timothy Dye went on disability for chronic arthritis after working decades in coal mines.
Conn, who started his law practice in a trailer in 1993, had portrayed himself as “Mr. Social Security.” He fueled that persona with outlandish TV commercials and small-scale replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Lincoln Memorial at his office in Kentucky.
Conn represented thousands in successful claims for benefits. But his empire crumbled when officials discovered he had been bribing a doctor and judge to approve disability claims based on fake evidence.
As part of the fallout, the Social Security Administration identified about 1,500 beneficiaries, mostly in eastern Kentucky, who were made to undergo hearings. An official said those hearings are nearly complete, and about 700 have been found eligible to maintain the benefits.