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Six years off radar, but now arrested

A Clearwater businessman was under a federal arrest warrant when he vanished in 2000. He's in jail without bail.

By ABBIE VANSICKLE
Published August 18, 2006

For six years, former Buick salesman, Clearwater businessman and father of three Thomas Hugh Boylan eluded federal authorities.

In 2000, he disappeared after he was indicted on three counts: two perjury charges and one charge of concealing assets.

Since then, Boylan has been a fugitive.

No longer.

Boylan, 51, was booked into the Hillsborough County jail Wednesday and held without bail after pleading guilty Aug. 2 to one count of perjury, according to federal court records.

Boylan is scheduled to be sentenced at the end of this month, said Lourdes Hall, a spokeswoman for the FBI's Tampa office.

He was arrested May 9 by Mexican authorities after he was detained at a port, Hall said. He was then deported to the United States.

More details on his arrest were not available Thursday, Hall said.

On an arrest report, Boylan listed his address as Bosques Del Poniente, Mexico.

Boylan got into legal trouble in 1999, when authorities said he negotiated the development of a multimillion-dollar seaport, airport and free-trade zone in Mariel, Cuba. He was arrested under the Trading with the Enemy Act.

Those charges were dropped, and in 1999, a federal judge ordered that Boylan's passport be returned.

Boylan vanished in 2000, when he was charged with bankruptcy fraud and perjury after authorities said he concealed his interest in a company, Sun International Holding Co.

He was accused of using the company to develop the Mariel project.

A federal arrest warrant was issued in May 2000, but he had disappeared by then, according to court records. His former wife, Angela Boylan, was among those trying to find him. She had won a substantial divorce settlement, but not before he allegedly took money from the children's trust accounts and lost their home in Countryside.

She could not be reached for comment on Thursday.

It's unclear whether Boylan was employed while he was a fugitive or exactly where he lived.

In 2002, he was spotted at a trade show in Havana, Cuba, wearing a name tag that read, "Thomas Torres."

He was wearing a shirt with the logo of Southport Agencies Inc., a bulk cargo handler in Metairie, La., and declined to talk to reporters.

Cathy Wos contributed to this report. Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 813 226-3373 or vansickle@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 18, 2006, 02:05:37]