UPDATED 00:26 EDT / FEBRUARY 02 2016

NEWS

Former Secret Service agent and Silk Road Bitcoin thief arrested trying to leave country

Proving the old saying that “some people never learn”, the former Secret Service agent who was arrested for stealing Bitcoin during the investigation into notorious dark web marketplace Silk Road has been re-arrested following an apparent attempt to flee the country.

Agent Shaun W. Bridges, who had previously spent time as a member of the President’s security detail, was arrested in April along with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Carl Force on charges of money laundering and wire fraud.

Bridges subsequently pleaded guilty in August to money laundering and obstruction charges, admitting to stealing $820,000 worth of Bitcoin and was sentenced in December to 71 months in prison, prompting the judge at the hearing to say that “This, to me, is an extremely serious crime consisting of the betrayal of public trust from a public official. From what I can see, it was motivated by greed,… No departure or variance is warranted in this case. I seldom find myself in the position of imposing a high-end sentence, but I find this is warranted in this case.”

And this is where our new story starts off as Bridge’s was due to start his prison time Friday, but apparently was having second thoughts.

According to local reports, Bridges was arrested in his home Thursday after authorities say he was found with a bag containing a passport, corporate records for three offshore accounts and a bulletproof vest.

A filing subsequently lodged by prosecutors in the Northern District of California added that the agents had also found documents relating to his wife’s application for citizenship in another country, and the corporate records including offshore entities in Belize, Nevis and Mauritius, including amazingly one that had been created after his guilty plea.

While never having the opportunity to actually present himself to prison given he was arrested the day before he was due, the prosecutors say that the evidence shows that Bridges had no intention of partaking in his free 71 month holiday at Club Fed.

“It should be noted that this was not the sum of evidence agents recovered,” the filing notes (pdf). “Rather, the government is only including facts here that it believes are relevant to the defendant’s risk of flight.”

Suffice it to say, a judge has tossed out Bridge’s motion to voluntarily surrender and there are now questions as to both whether his prison term will be amended, and also whether there are additional funds Bridge’s stole during the Silk Road investigation of which authorities were previously unaware.

Image credit: jtuason/Flickr/CC by 2.0

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