A man wanted for nearly five years after escaping from a Colorado federal prison is back in custody after being found living a lavish lifestyle in Fort Lauderdale, authorities said.
Allen Todd May, 58, was arrested Tuesday evening by deputy U.S. marshals from the Southern District of Florida, along with officers from the Florida and Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force, authorities said .
May was found living in a home near East Cypress Creek Road and Northeast 18th Avenue, less than two miles from the ocean, in a neighborhood where many homes are valued at more than $1 million, officials said. authorities said.
May was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison in February 2012 after being convicted of mail fraud in Texas.
He had been transferred to a Colorado prison in January 2018, but in December of that year he was found to have escaped during a prisoner count, officials said.
It was later learned that before his escape and while May was in prison, he had identified several business entities that were owed unclaimed oil and gas royalties and filed fraudulent documents to act as a representative of these companies and claim the royalties for himself. authorities said.
The project, which lasted from at least mid-2016 to late 2018, would have brought in more than $700,000 for the month of May, officials said.
May was charged in 2022 with 10 counts of wire fraud and seven counts of mail fraud in connection with the scheme, but remained a fugitive.
After the US Marshals announced a $5,000 reward in this case in September 2022they began receiving tips that led investigators to pursue leads in California, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas and Florida.
An anonymous tipster began providing information in May about online profiles and potential websites that May may have been using under the alias “Cary Bailey.” Investigators followed up on the information provided but were never able to locate May’s location, officials said.
But on July 25, the same tipster provided a new tip and a photo of who he thought was May, which had been posted on the Palm Beach Daily News website.
The new information, which included a new, previously unknown alias, allowed investigators to inquire about a possible location of May at a penthouse apartment in Palm Beach, authorities said.
On Monday, authorities set up surveillance of the apartment but saw no sign of May. But the next day, May’s alleged partner was seen leaving the Palm Beach apartment in a U-Haul rental truck.
Authorities followed the partner in the U-Haul nearly 50 miles from Palm Beach to Fort Lauderdale, where the partner backed the U-Haul truck into the driveway of the home near East Cypress Creek Road and North -east of 18th avenue.
A man who later came out of the home was arrested and was found to be May, officials said.
May was booked into a local jail and will be transported back to Colorado.
“I would like to recognize and thank the anonymous informant for the information he provided that directly led to the arrest of this unorthodox fugitive,” U.S. Marshal Kirk Taylor of the District of Colorado said Wednesday. “I would also like to thank and recognize the incredible tenacity of the Deputy United States Marshals who followed every lead over the years in the District of Colorado, culminating in the arrest in the Southern District of Florida last night.”
