BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
A package shipped via Federal Express turned out to be the clue that led a bounty hunter to catch ex-ticket broker John B. Forrest, a fugitive since January.
New Jersey authorities are awaiting the return of Forrest, formerly of Colts Neck, from a federal prison in Texas where he is in custody since operatives of a Woodbridge-based bounty hunter turned him over to U.S. Customs agents last weekend.
So long as Forrest does not fight extradition proceedings, he could be back in Middlesex County by the end of next week, according to John Hagerty, spokesman for the state Division of Criminal Justice.
“The extradition papers will be going down to Texas by early next week,” Hagerty said. “If [Forrest} waives extradition, he could be back in New Jersey by the end of next week.”
Forrest, 42, was apprehended in Cancun, Mexico late Friday night where he had been running an escort service out of a local sports bar, according to Louis Faccone, owner and operator of North East Fugitive Recovery.
Faccone was hired by a bonding insurance company to find Forrest after a state Superior Court judge in New Brunswick revoked the $1 million bail when the former ticket broker did not show up at a sentencing hearing in January.
The state Division of Criminal Justice is considering charging Forrest with separate offenses related to his failure to appear for sentencing and subsequent eluding of state authorities, Hagerty said.
When Forrest is returned to New Jersey he will be placed in the Middlesex County Adult Correctional Center, North Brunswick. A sentencing hearing in state Superior Court in New Brunswick should be held soon thereafter, Hagerty added.
In September 2003, Forrest, who owned Tri-State Ticket Exchange on Route 9 south in Old Bridge, pled guilty to five counts of fraud and failing to report and pay state sales taxes on the profits from the now-defunct ticket brokerage. Lumped in with those five counts of fraud were 39 complaints filed by the Old Bridge Police Department in Superior Court since mid-2002.
At the time of his scheduled sentencing, Forrest was expected to serve a five-year prison term and make restitution of more than $770,000 to the 100-plus customers he had defrauded.
The ex-ticket broker, who admitted to bilking those customers by failing to provide the tickets he sold to concerts and sporting events, was placed on the state Division of Criminal Justice’s 12 Most Wanted list of fugitives after he did not show up for sentencing.
Forrest’s name was also entered into a national crime database of wanted criminals, and he was targeted for capture by the New Jersey/New York Regional Fugitive Task Force, Hagerty said.
Over the past nine months, North East agents had traced Forrest to numerous locations including New York, Miami, Brazil and finally Mexico, Faccone explained. As agents attempted to move in, however, Forrest always managed to disappear again, Faccone said.
At one point, the New Jersey/New York Regional Task Force found out that Forrest was living in Brazil, Hagerty said. However, Forrest moved on before the paperwork authorizing Brazilian authorities to arrest him could be delivered to that country, he added.
North East agents pursued whatever means of tracking Forrest that they could, including the monitoring of land line and cell phone calls the fugitive made to relatives in New Jersey and New York, Faccone said.
With the cooperation of Forrest’s estranged wife, Jenny Forrest, Faccone obtained various account numbers, including the Federal Express number that the ex-ticket broker had used in the past. Forrest used that account number to have a package sent to an address in Mexico from someone at a New York City apartment where he had once lived, Faccone stated.
North East agents intercepted the package and then released it to make sure that Forrest received it in Mexico, Faccone said.
With a warrant from Middlesex County in hand, Faccone sent several agents based out of Louisiana to find Forrest, which they did, at the Cancun sports bar.
After about a week of sharing lunches, dinners and drinks with Forrest, the agents revealed their identities and took him into custody, Faccone said.
Because Forrest was always looking for customers for his escort service, he was generally very affable to everyone who came into the sports bar, even the undercover agents, Faccone said.
“[Forrest] was very friendly to everyone in the bar,” Faccone said. “He was very well-known and well-liked.”
After apprehension, the agents took Forrest via chartered plane to Texas, where he was turned over to U.S. Customs, Faccone said.
United States marshals have since notified authorities in Middlesex and Monmouth counties to arrange extradition, he added.
Faccone would not state how much he would be paid by the bonding insurance company, which he refused to identify.
Should Forrest fight extradition from Texas, state authorities will go to court in that state to have him returned to New Jersey, Hagerty noted.
“If he fights [extradition], it could lead to a court hearing in Texas,” Hagerty said.
Forrest previously pleaded guilty to writing bad checks for more than $19,000 and admitted to violating probation from a 2001 Monmouth County fraud case.
The former ticket broker pleaded guilty to charges of theft by deception, fraudulent use of credit cards, misapplication of entrusted funds, failure to file state tax returns and failure to pay state sales taxes.
Most of the complaints filed with the township police and with state Division of Consumer Affairs accused Forrest of charging for tickets he never delivered, double-billing credit cards, and charging premium prices for “nosebleed” seating at events.
As part of his plea bargain agreement last year and to escape the 10-year prison term that his offenses actually merited, Forrest had agreed never to operate a ticket brokerage in New Jersey again.