Defendant skips bail on drug charges

Louis Wayne Fowler, who was a fugitive for three years in the 1980s in a $5.1 million embezzlement scheme, is once again on the run.

After Fowler failed to appear Friday for a change-of-plea hearing in a guns and drugs prosecution in Sacramento, U.S. District Judge Edward J. Garcia revoked the $250,000 bail secured by a Rio Linda home owned by his parents and occupied by Fowler. The judge also ordered that a no-bail bench warrant be issued for Fowler's arrest.

Fowler's attorney, Johnny Griffin III, told Garcia he had tried unsuccessfully to locate his client.

The 53-year-old Fowler, who had been operating a Folsom Boulevard marijuana dispensary until he was busted by federal narcotics agents in 2005, was scheduled to plead guilty Friday to manufacturing at least 1,000 marijuana plants and carrying a firearm in connection with drug trafficking.

The case has been stalled by repeated continuances requested by Griffin, but Garcia's patience finally wore thin and he told the attorney Fowler had to plead guilty or go to trial Jan. 8.

Griffin told the judge Friday that he spoke to Fowler by phone Thursday evening and that Fowler seemed reconciled to the change of plea.

The attorney said Fowler's mother, Linda Fowler, told him when he first contacted her Friday that, as far as she knew, her son had gone to court.

Griffin later reported to Garcia the electronic tracking device Fowler was wearing as a condition of his pretrial release had been compromised around 10 a.m. Friday. The device was apparently removed from Fowler's ankle and left in his residence, Griffin said.

In follow-up phone conversations, Linda Fowler told Griffin her son was extremely despondent Thursday evening, the attorney reported to Garcia.

Griffin described Linda Fowler as "extremely distraught," and quoted some remarks she attributed to her son, but the attorney said it is still unclear to him whether they were made to her in conversation or in a note.

The attorney reported that Louis Fowler said he didn't want to burden his mother, who has been supporting him, according to Linda Fowler.

"I can't take it no longer," his mother quoted Fowler as saying, according to Griffin. "They don't put dead bodies in prison. When they find me, I know they won't want to put my dead body in prison."

Garcia was the judge in two other high-profile prosecutions where defendants skipped out after conviction .

Developer Constantine Pappadopoulos and his wife, Katherine, were found guilty by a jury in 1993 of arson-for-profit in connection with the September 1992 fire that destroyed the couple's Arden Oaks mansion. He fled to his native Greece and was never sentenced. Under Greece's extradition arrangement with the United States, Greek citizens are protected from extradition.

Paul Carpenter, a former state senator ensnared in an FBI sting, was found guilty by a jury of mail fraud, obstruction of justice and conspiracy to launder campaign contributions in connection with the bribery of a fellow senator.

His 1993 conviction coincided with a diagnosis of prostate cancer – he faced the possibility that he would die in prison.

On the eve of his sentencing he fled to Costa Rica, writing Garcia a letter saying he wanted to explore alternative treatments for his illness.

Several months later, he was found in the Central American country and eventually extradited to Sacramento. Garcia sentenced him in 1995 to seven years and three months in prison. He was freed on supervised release in 1999 and died in 2002.

In raids on July 7, 2005, according to court documents, law enforcement officers seized 816 marijuana plants at Fowler's pot shop, Alternative Specialties, and 288 plants from his backyard and an indoor grow in a barn next to his residence.

On that same day, the documents reflect, officers found a loaded .32-caliber Beretta semi-automatic pistol in Fowler's pants pocket and an Intratec 9 mm assault pistol loaded with 19 rounds on the front floorboard of his Mercedes Benz. In the same vehicle, officers found between 4 and 5 pounds of processed marijuana and $33,361 in cash.

Also on that day, officers seized $57,120 in cash from the West Sacramento home of Fowler's sister, Mary Jennifer Berg, who was part owner of the cannabis store.

Berg insists the money was not derived from criminal activity and is in federal court trying to get it back. That matter has been stayed pending final disposition of her brother's prosecution.

After Fowler's arrest, now- retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Peter A. Nowinski refused to grant him bail, noting that Fowler "has previously used an alias and is also a parole violator." In 2006, however, Griffin persuaded U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows to cut Fowler loose on bail and with electronic monitoring.

Griffin argued that Fowler's father, Glen Fowler, had undergone quintuple bypass surgery and was in critical condition.

"Defendant enjoys an extremely close relationship with his father," Griffin said at the time. "The risk of flight is minimal and defendant has significant family and community ties."

Fowler served seven years in state prison in the 1990s for embezzling $5.1 million from the State Water Resources Control Board where he worked as an entry-level accountant from 1982 to 1985. It is the largest theft of state funds by one individual in California history.

With his crime not yet detected, he departed for Arizona, where he lived under an assumed name, operated two video rental stores and lived a high life of paying strip-club dancers with $100 bills, buying expensive guns and producing homemade pornographic videos, some starring Fowler.

He had one too many brushes with the law in Arizona; a fingerprint match tripped him up and he was extradited to Sacramento.

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