FBI Tracks Down Washington Couple Who Skipped Sentencing For Ponzi-Like Scheme

SEATTLE (AP) – The FBI has arrested a fugitive Auburn couple who fled before sentencing last month after convictions for operating a Ponzi-like scheme, defrauding thousands of investors out of more than $30 million.

The Seattle Times reports Seattle FBI spokesperson Steve Bernd said Bernard Ross Hansen and partner Diane Renee Erdmann were arrested Tuesday afternoon at a motel near Chimacum on the Olympic Peninsula.

Bernd says a hotel employee recognized them from photographs that had been published in the media.

Hansen and Erdmann were scheduled to appear April 29 in U.S. District Court after a jury convicted them of mail and wire fraud in a gold bullion scheme that prosecutors say victimized 3,000 investors.