Police: ‘Fat Leonard’ escapes house arrest in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — Federal authorities say the military contractor who pleaded guilty to orchestrating the “Fat Leonard” corruption scandal and was under house arrest in San Diego is now on the run after cutting off his GPS monitoring ankle bracelet over the weekend. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Supervisory Deputy U.S. Marshal Omar Castillo said Leonard Glenn Francis removed the tracker Sunday. The San Diego Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service have begun a high-profile search. Francis was arrested in San Diego in 2013 and pleaded guilty in 2015 to offering $500,000 in bribes to Navy officers. Francis has been on house arrest since at least 2018. He was set to be sentenced at the end of month.