Fugitive Dem Donor Arrested in Colorado

Disgraced Democratic fundraiser Norman Hsu, who skipped town on $2 million bail for a felony theft conviction, is back in custody after federal authorities tracked him down in Colorado.

Hsu's failure to appear for a scheduled court hearing Wednesday wasn't his first disappearing act. The Hong Kong native spent 15 years on the lam from the 1991 theft conviction until he surrendered to authorities last week.

FBI agents arrested Hsu at St. Mary's Hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., late Thursday, said FBI spokesman Joseph Schadler, who declined to elaborate on the circumstances surrounding the arrest, saying details were in a sealed complaint.

Jason Booth, a spokesman for Hsu, declined comment late Thursday, saying he had not been in contact with Hsu for several days.

Hsu had been due in court Wednesday to turn over his passport and ask a judge to cut in half the $2 million bail he posted after he turned himself in. Instead, he failed to show up, and a judge issued a new arrest warrant for him.

California Attorney General spokesman Gareth Lacy said Hsu's lawyers told prosecutors Hsu arrived by charter jet at the Oakland airport about 5:30 a.m. Wednesday local time and then wasn't heard from again.

When it became apparent that Hsu had fled the state, California authorities sought the assistance of the FBI, whose agents arrested him Thursday night on charges of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, Schadler said.

Once he is returned to state custody, the federal charges will be dismissed, Schadler said.

It was unclear when Hsu would be returned to California, "depending on how long it takes for extradition proceedings to take place, but he will be," he said.

Mesa County sheriff's spokeswoman Heather Benjamin said the sheriff's department and the Grand Junction Police Department assisted the FBI in the arrest, but declined to give any details. She referred questions to the FBI.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell became the latest of many Democratic politicians to return or donate to charity Hsu's election contributions.

Rendell had said last week he planned to keep nearly $40,000 of Hsu's money even though he was wanted for failing to appear for sentencing after pleading no contest to a felony charge of bilking investors out of $1 million.

"Though Norman is my friend, and remains so, his failure to appear casts a new light on his assertions regarding the original case," Rendell said in a statement before Hsu's arrest Thursday. "As a result, I will follow other elected officials and donate the money he contributed to me to charity."

New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has said she plans to give to charity the $23,000 in donations she received from Hsu for her presidential and senatorial campaigns and to her political action committee, HillPac.

The growing flap over Hsu's contributions prompted Democratic presidential candidate Chris Dodd to release a statement Thursday vowing "to refuse to accept or possess campaign contributions raised, solicited, or delivered by fugitives from justice."

Hsu has said he believed he had resolved his legal issues, but that he would halt his work raising political money.

Prosecutors say Hsu bilked investors out of $1 million by telling them he had a contract to buy and sell latex gloves, but he never purchased the gloves and had no contract to sell them.

He pleaded no contest in 1991 to a felony count of grand theft and was facing up to three years in prison, but he skipped town before his 1992 sentencing date. Investigators believed he'd fled to Hong Kong.

Years later, he resurfaced as a top fundraiser, donating $260,000 to Democratic Party groups and federal candidates since 2004, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Though a top fundraiser for Clinton, he also donated to presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's Senate campaign in 2004 and to Obama's political action committee.

Other Democrats who divested their campaigns of Hsu's money include California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, as well as Al Franken, a Senate candidate in Minnesota, Reps. Michael Honda and Doris Matsui of California and Rep. Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania.