Officials with the U.S. Marshals Service say they have arrested Fatemeh Angela Harkness after she got off a plane from the United Arab Emirates in New York City on Sunday. Harkness is a Round Rock [New York] native who was the subject of an international manhunt by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force. Marshals say Harkness fled just prior to an April 2004 sentencing in which she reportedly plead guilty to involvement in bank fraud totaling $1.3 million. Harkness made a name for herself by owning a NASCAR team with her co-defendant in the case, Gary Jones. [The team was Angela’s Motorsports. They ran at Homestead in 2002 and had hired Mike McLaughlin to drive in 2003 before the plan unraveled.] Jones is currently incarcerated. Police say Harkness, a former stripper, conspired with Jones, a Wells Fargo vice president to embezzle money that helped fund their NASCAR adventures. The business was run from Harkness’ Round Rock home. Harkness was arrested by authorities with the United Arab Emirates in May 2005 — but due to the fact that the country and the U.S. have no extradition treaty, she had not been accessible to U.S. Marshalls until landing at JFK International Airport on Sunday. Marshals say she will face a judge in New York before being returned to Central Texas for trial.(KEYE TV)(4-8-2007)
UPDATE: A former Yellow Rose stripper who admitted to conspiring to embezzle $1 million to fund a NASCAR auto racing team run out of her Round Rock home is back in Austin for the first time since she fled the country to avoid going to prison in 2004. Fatemeh Angela Harkness, 30, is set to appear before a U.S. magistrate judge at 2 p.m. Friday. She faces up to five years in prison. Her sentencing date has not been set. Harkness arrived in Austin from New York Thursday evening accompanied by U.S. marshals. On Sunday, Harkness flew to New York from the United Arab Emirates where she has spent the past three years after contacting U.S. marshals in Austin to arrange her surrender.(Austin American-Statesman)(4-13-2007)
