A former Kennebunk man wanted on charges that he duped more than a dozen people out of $572,000 in York and Waldo counties has been found in New Jersey.
Robert J. Howarth, 62, was picked up by Fort Lee police during a traffic stop July 15.
“It appears as though Howarth has been living in the Bergen County area for the past three years,” Capt. Patrick Kissane of the Fort Lee police told the Fort Lee Daily Voice on Wednesday.
Howarth was indicted last year on multiple charges of securities fraud and theft by deception for allegedly stealing from more than a dozen people in York and Waldo counties by duping them into investing in a clothing business but keeping the money for himself.
He was indicted by grand juries in York County in March 2015 and in Waldo County in May 2015.
He is accused of scamming a dozen Waldo County residents in 2009 and 2010 out of amounts ranging from $3,000 to $200,000 for a total of $572,000, and a York County couple of an unspecified amount of money in 2012.
Maine authorities had been unable to find Howarth since the indictments and made an appeal to the public to help find him.
Howarth used the aliases Robert Chiofolo, Robert Kim Lee and Robert Sachs. He remained in Bergen County Jail on Saturday on a charge of being a fugitive from justice.
Howarth has waived extradition to Maine and will be held at the York County Jail when he arrives, according to Timothy Feeley, a spokesman for the Maine Attorney General’s Office. Feeley said Howarth could be arraigned early next week.
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