Scott Edward Cavell, one of four people connected to the sprawling Loomis Wealth Solutions fraud who fled the country to avoid prosecution, is in U.S. custody and on his way back to Sacramento.
Cavell, who had been living in Ireland, is the last of the four fugitives to be captured.
No date is set for his initial appearance in federal court in Sacramento. He will be brought here from Chicago, where he was arrested, via the air transport system of the U.S. Marshals Service, called "Conair," which operates on its own schedule.
Federal authorities have known for some time that Cavell, 29, went to Ireland after he fled Feb. 2, 2009. Thirty-eight days later, he was charged in a federal grand jury indictment with wire fraud, money laundering, engaging in transactions with money derived from criminal activity, supplying false information in order to get a passport, and identity theft.
Fellow fugitives Christopher Jared Warren, Garret Griffith Gililland III and companion Nicole Magpusao were captured earlier. Warren was apprehended as he tried to re-enter the United States from Canada. Gililland and Magpusao were arrested in a Spanish village on the Mediterranean coast. They waged a pitched, but futile battle against extradition.
All four were involved in one degree or another with the now-defunct Loomis Wealth Solutions, a massive investment and mortgage flimflam based in Roseville and headed by Lawrence Leland "Lee" Loomis.
Federal authorities have estimated the overall loss to lenders and investors in several states at approximately $100 million.
The government had been putting off seeking Cavell's extradition because it's difficult to get Ireland to agree to send someone to another country due to alleged criminal activity, U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner said.
In an interview, Wagner said that, for reasons which are not clear to him, Ireland deported Cavell.
While in police custody, Cavell was placed on a non-stop Aer Lingus flight from Dublin to Chicago, Wagner said.
He was the first passenger off the plane Nov. 12 at O'Hare International Airport, and two Internal Revenue Service agents were waiting, Wagner said.
Cavell appeared the next day before a U.S. magistrate judge, who appointed counsel for him.
He waived his right to an identity hearing, was remanded into the custody of the Marshals Service and ordered removed to Sacramento, according to court records.
Wagner said he did not know whether Cavell's deportation was linked to his April conviction in a Dublin court on charges relating to indoor marijuana growing.
He was sentenced to four months in prison, part of which he had already served following his arrest.
Until he was detained on the pot charges, he had been living in Ireland under the name Marcus Dwyer.
A report in the Irish press quoted Cavell's attorney as apologizing to the court on behalf of his client for living in the country under an alias, and assuring the court that Cavell "wished to cooperate with prosecutors and was anxious to return to the U.S. to face charges there."
At the time of his troubles with the law in Ireland, Wagner said Friday, "We suggested that if they just wanted to get rid of him, that would be great."
There are no agreements between the United States and Ireland or Cavell regarding the federal prosecution, Wagner said.
A Sacramento native, Cavell is described in court papers as the longtime "right-hand man" of Warren "in many of Warren's fraudulent activities."
Warren, 30, who also grew up in Sacramento, was sentenced in September to 14 years and seven months in prison on his guilty pleas to wire fraud and identity theft.
Among the crimes Warren admitted to was thievery that cost six major mortgage lenders almost $12.5 million during a short stint working under the Loomis Wealth Solutions banner.
Before he fled, at a time when he was cooperating with federal authorities, Warren told FBI Special Agent Mark Roberts that he ranked Loomis, himself and Cavell one, two and three on his "top 10 list of mortgage fraudsters," court papers say.
Gililland, 31, who has been cooperating with the government, was sentenced in August to seven years and 10 months in prison. He pleaded guilty in May to mail fraud and money laundering.
Magpusao, 31, who was a bit player in her husband's criminal activity, pleaded guilty to mail fraud.
She was sentenced to the time she had already spent in custody slightly more than 21 months.
Loomis, 55, is facing 19 counts of mail fraud and 31 counts of wire fraud. He has been held in jail without bail since his arrest on Sept. 14.
© Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.
Read more articles by Denny Walsh


About Comments
Reader comments on Sacbee.com are the opinions of the writer, not The Sacramento Bee. If you see an objectionable comment, click the "Report Abuse" link below it. We will delete comments containing inappropriate links, obscenities, hate speech, and personal attacks. Flagrant or repeat violators will be banned. See more about comments here.