ST. THOMAS – A man wanted on fraud charges in the Virgin Islands was arrested in Florida over the weekend and is facing extradition back to the territory.
Jeffrey Michael Cummings, 29, who worked as a manager at Hooters in St. Thomas was arrested Wednesday in Ocala, Florida, police officials said. In October 2011, Cummings was charged with embezzlement, obtaining money by false pretenses and grand larceny. He’s accused of stealing $36,346.25.
After posting bond in St. Thomas, Cummings fled the island and could not be found, Virgin Islands Police Department spokesman Kevin Jackson said. But the VIPD’s Warrant Unit continued to actively search for Cummings and acted on a tip that he was living in Florida, according to Jackson.
The VIPD notified the Marion County Sheriff’s Office when it discovered where Cummings lived and worked and asked for assistance in picking him up, police said. Tracking Cummings through a vehicle registration, they had learned that he lived at 3001 S.W. 24th Ave. in Ocala and passed that information along to Florida police.
Members of Marion County Sheriff’s Office Fugitive Apprehension Unit went to the Jenkins Mazda dealership located off of State Road 200 and arrested Cummings on Wednesday. Deputies were told Cummings worked at the automobile dealership as a salesman.
A representative of the dealership said Thursday he was not at liberty to confirm if Cummings worked there or not. Reached at the jail on Thursday, Cummings denied an interview request to a Florida newspaper. A Marion County Sheriff’s Office document stated that Cummings had a warrant and would be extradited to face his charges.
Cummings appeared in court for the first time on Thursday, where Marion County Court Judge Thomas P. Thompson III set his bond at $105,000.
At 3:19 a.m. Saturday, Cummings was released on bail.
Thompson told a Florida reporter on Saturday that a judge who dealt with Cummings in the Virgin Islands had authorized a bond of $35,000 for each charge, so he had to abide by what the judge had stipulated. The Marion County Court judge said he could not have authorized bond for Cummings if the original judge had not issued a bond.
Hooters is a restaurant with 460 locations across the United States whose waiting staff are primarily attractive young women.
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