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[MorningLightMountain]

Fugitive businessman John Stanton captured in Orlando

By William R. Levesque, Times Staff Writer
Posted: Sep 07, 2012 06:19 PM

http://www.tampabay.com/news/courts/criminal/fugitive-businessman-john-stanton-captured-in-orlando/1250325

Fugitive businessman John Stanton was captured Friday by federal law enforcement officers at an Orlando hotel.

Stanton, who disappeared nearly 10 months ago just before a Hillsborough judge sentenced him to jail for failing to pay support for his ex-wife, did not resist when arrested by U.S. marshals, said Phil Klein, a private investigator in Texas hired by the ex-wife to find Stanton.

Stanton was arrested shortly after 4 p.m. at a Fairfield Inn on Vineland Avenue in Orlando.

Klein and law enforcement have been tracking Stanton through four states and had nearly arrested Stanton in West Palm Beach earlier in the week, Klein said. He declined to release any additional details of the capture.

Susan Stanton, the ex-wife, could not be reached to comment.

"This brings a closing chapter to a man who thought he was above the law," Klein said. "Everyone needs to know that no one is above the law."

Once worth $269 million, Stanton now claims he is broke. He faces a six-month jail term after a Hillsborough judge found him in contempt in December 2011 for not paying his former wife support and alimony. Stanton had disappeared shortly before the hearing, where the judge sentenced him in absentia.

Susan Stanton, a former Pinellas County resident who now lives in California, said she is owed more than $10 million. She had even offered a $1,000 bounty for his capture.

Stanton was formerly the president of Cast-Crete Inc., a building materials company in Seffner that earned $1 million a week in profit as Florida development boomed in 2006.

He is a former U.S. Army sergeant with a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for rescuing a downed helicopter pilot in Vietnam. With a master's degree in business from the University of South Florida, he earned one of the highest scores in the nation among those taking the certified public accountant exam.

He was once close to the late Ralph Hughes, a Tampa power broker who hired Stanton at Cast-Crete. Hughes' name frequently made the news in 2010 and 2011 when it was revealed he bankrolled an Arkansas house for the wife of former Hills­borough County Commissioner Jim Norman.

Stanton delved into philanthropy, including a $1.5 million contribution to his son's Independent Day School.

William R. Levesque can be reached at [e-mail] or [phone].


[Last modified: Sep 07, 2012 06:58 PM]

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