Panama: A Fugitive’s Paradise

Whether child molesters, drug-traffickers, murderers or your run-of-the-mill white collar criminal, fugitives appear to be drawn to Panama.

Known for its virgin beaches, dense tropical forests, secluded islands, a rapidly growing skyscraper capital of available apartments, generous retiree benefits and historically relaxed banking laws, the Central American transit country has proved to be a good place to get lost for  a number of escape artists over the years.

A FEW FUGITIVE STORIES

There was the case of James Vincent Sullivan who eluded a 17-year manhunt – from Palm Beach, Fla., to Costa Rica to Panama to Venezuela, and then to a beach condo in Thailand, where he was captured in 2002.  He had paid $25,000 in 1987 to have his Atlanta socialite wife killed.

And, who can forget British-citizen, John Darwin, who faked his death-by-canoeing accident in 2002 to scam pension and insurance companies before moving to Panama in 2006 where he and his wife bought property and set up canoeing tours.

In 2003, Ian Calvert Bleasdale, a con man and a sex offender, also popped up in Panama.  He worked for San Cristobal, a company that peddled a Bocas del Toro land and noni investment scam, which was owned by another fraudster, Tom McMurrain.

And, Panamanian authorities detained Former Vladivostok Mayor Vladimir “Winnie the Pooh” Nikolayev in May of this year, on the lam in Panama from “abuse of official powers” charges and questioning in a 2001 murder case in Russia.

The most recent fugitives are William “Wild Bill” and Jane Cortez, wanted for serial murder in Bocas del Toro.  On July 26, 2010, Nicaraguan forces captured them on the San Juan River as they fled from Costa Rica.  Cher Hughes and Bo Icelar were discovered buried in their backyard in Panama and investigators expect to find more victims.

Here are a few of the other fugitives who chose Panama to lay low, although this list is not exhaustive:

Philip Leland Riley, arrested in November of 2008 after the Beaverton Police Department was called to investigate a sex abuse allegation at the YMCA in Oregon.  On February 3, 2010, Riley was escorted back to the United States from Panama.

Pedro Miguel Gonzalez Pinzon, President of Panama’s National Assembly from September 1, 2007 to August 31, 2008, indicted by U.S. Supreme Court for shooting two American soldiers in 1992.

Joel Jermai Branford, wanted on conspiracy and cocaine possession with intent to distribute charges, believed to have fled to Panama in 2004.

Arcangel de Jesus Henao Montoya of Colombia’s Norte Valle Cartel, charged with drug and money laundering violations, captured in Panama on January 10, 2004.

Lorena Henao Montoya, the widow of confessed narcotics trafficker Ivan Urdinola Grajales, captured in Panama in January, 2004.

John C. Reed, indicted with Colombian drug lord Carlos Lehder Rivas in a 1981 narcotics case, found in the Panama jungles in 1987.