LEXINGTON, Ky. (WHAS11) -- Eric Conn, who, until December 2, was one of the FBI's most wanted fugitives is back home in Kentucky. It's not where he wanted to be, but American soil is where FBI agents made sure he would return.
Far from the mild temperatures of Central America where he was captured, Conn stepped off a federally owned plane just after 7 p.m. Tuesday into a frigid Lexington night and bitter cold reality: freedom was no longer his.
The disgraced Lexington lawyer had been on the run since June 2, when he cut off and ditched his GPS ankle monitor along Interstate 75, days before he was scheduled to testify against a co-defendant and be sentenced for his role in a $550 million fraud investigation.
At a news conference earlier Tuesday announcing the arrest, Amy Hess, the Special Agent in Charge of Louisville's FBI Field Office, reminded reporters of her earlier vow to work with local, state, federal and international investigators to bring Conn back to the Bluegrass State.
"As I explained at the last press conference, we would bring all available resources to bear to find Mr. Conn and bring him to justice and hold him accountable for the lives he impacted and the trust he betrayed," Hess said.
Hess said Conn was arrested the previous Saturday. Investigators shared a picture of Conn eating inside a Pizza Hut in Honduras moments before he was arrested. Shortly thereafter, Conn was sitting a table across from investigators in Honduras.
The arrest was first reported Monday night by Honduran news outlet El Heraldo, which included the picture of Conn surrounded by armed and masked members of the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigation in the northern Honduran city of La Ceiba.
Hess was one of about a dozen FBI agents on the tarmac at Lexington's Bluegrass Airport when the plane transporting Conn touched down in Kentucky.
"As promised, Mr. Conn will be held accountable for his actions, to the people he deceived and the lives he's shattered."
Hess, who was surrounded by a team of investigators from multiple federal agencies at the news conference, displayed a continued pride in tracking down the man who stole half a billion dollars from the federal government, but also so many Kentucky families.
Their wait is now over.
His day has finally come.
Conn's response to this reporter's question as to how it felt to be back in Kentucky could not be heard. What was clear was Eric Conn's 6-month run from the law was reduced to a simple stride in the direction of justice.
i-Team Investigator Derrick Rose can be reached at 502-582-7232 and dnrose@whas11.com. Follow him on Twitter: @WHAS11DRose.