For 15 years, Joseph Floyde DeArmond lived the quiet life of a United States expat in Costa Rica. That serenity, alas, came to an abrupt end last year when field agents acting on orders from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) apprehended him, took him in custody and put him on a plane back to his native North American country.

 

According to a press release published by the Portland Division of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the District of Oregon, Mr. DeArmond had been living in Costa Rica under an assumed name. In reality, the quiet expat was an international fugitive who had been sentenced to serve a term of incarceration in a federal prison. That happened in 1997 after DeArmond pled guilty to charges of possessing a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

 

The precise quantity of the drugs seized from DeArmond in the mid 1990s were not mentioned on the press release, which was originally issued by the Department of Justice (DOJ). What is known, however, is that DeArmond has once again been sentenced, this time to serve 36 months. The sentenced was recently ordered as detailed by the original DOJ press release, which appears in its entirety below:

 

International Fugitive for 15 Years Caught by FBI and Sentenced for 1997 Methamphetamine Offense

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2014

 

EUGENE, Ore. –Joseph Floyde DeArmond, 51, previously of Medford, Oregon, was sentenced today by U.S. District Chief Judge Ann Aiken to 36 months in federal prison for an offense he committed in 1997 – possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. Upon his release from prison, DeArmond will be on supervised release for three years.

 

On June 9, 1997, law enforcement seized a distributable amount of methamphetamine from defendant’s Medford, Oregon home. After being federally charged, DeArmond pled guilty and was scheduled to be sentenced on June 30, 1998. Rather than appear for sentencing, DeArmond fled the United States to Costa Rica. The FBI’s fugitive hunt lasted from 1998 until 2013, when DeArmond was located in Costa Rica living under an assumed name. After positively identifying him as Joseph DeArmond, the FBI worked with the Costa Rican government to arrange for his return to the United States.

 

Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan J. Lichvarcik prosecuted this case.