Disgraced Democratic fund-raiser Norman Hsu was wandering an Amtrak train bare-chested and shoeless and "freaked out" when he was nabbed, a witness said."I thought he had a suitcase full of crack or meth," fellow passenger Alberto Dee, 21, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
Hsu's latest flight from justice ended on a Denver-bound train Thursday, the day after he jumped $2 million bail on a 15-year-old felony conviction in California.
The train's conductor said the two-time fugitive looked like an elderly man with dementia, and that's why he called 911.
He had no idea Hsu was a high-profile Democratic fund-raiser who made hefty donations to Sen. Hillary Clinton and other pols - while on the run from fraud charges for 15 years.
Hsu was taken to a hospital, where he was under FBI guard.
Hospital staff also didn't immediately recognize him, but someone eventually plugged his name into Google - and called the FBI.
There's something very strange going on here, and the comment from the fellow passenger just makes it more bizarre. Why would he think there was a suitcase full of crack or meth? But maybe that's more revealing about Dee than Hsu.
Further Update:
Another passenger disembarking in Chicago, who declined to give his name, said Hsu appeared disoriented and was having trouble opening a door on the train.[...]
Hsu boarded the train in Emeryville about 7 a.m. Wednesday, Amtrak said, two hours before he was to have appeared in a Redwood City courtroom in connection with his grand theft conviction. He had touched down earlier that morning on a charter jet flight to Oakland, his lawyer told prosecutors. Amtrak said he boarded the Zephyr with a ticket for Denver.
[...]
Fugitive political fundraiser Norman Hsu was behaving erratically as he fled the Bay Area on Amtrak's California Zephyr, at one point stripping off his shirt and shoes, before paramedics were called to take him off the train in western Colorado, passengers said Friday.
[...]
A spokesman at St. Mary's Hospital said Friday night that Hsu was in fair condition but would not say what was wrong with him.
There is mention again in the SF Gate article of the federal charges for attempting to flee being dropped when they get him back to California, but it's still not explained.
[R]ecords show that Components Ltd., a company controlled by Mr. Hsu that has no obvious business purpose and appears to exist only on paper, has paid a total of more than $100,000 to at least nine people who made campaign contributions to Mrs. Clinton and others through Mr. Hsu.[...]
The records make clear that the group was more than just a loose collection of friends, family and co-workers that bundlers typically rely on when raising money for a candidate. Rather, each person had a direct financial relationship with Mr. Hsu, either receiving money from his company or paying into it, even though many of them appear to have other jobs or businesses independent of him. The purpose of the payments, and whether they related to business costs, fees or expenses, is unclear.
Maybe somebody slipped Mr. Hsu a mickey. Or maybe Mr. Hsu is crazy like a fox. This sudden incapacitation could have some bearing on future sentencing.
Even Further Update: A Wall Street Journal article says a hospital spokesperson called Mr. Hsu "delirious". The article chronicles Hsu's history, and it seems that aside from his successful 1992 disappearance just prior to sentencing on grand theft charges, Mr. Hsu's shady dealings also involved yet another, more sinister, disappearance:
With the latex-glove venture, when no products or profits surfaced, several investors sued. In the summer of 1990, Mr. Hsu filed for bankruptcy protection. Then in September 1990 he was kidnapped, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle. The police, the article said, arrested men they said were connected to Asian gangs. Mr. Hsu told police that he had been assaulted and taken to Foster City, Calif., where police pulled over a car driven by his alleged abductors when it ran a red light.
I think this story will take a while to play out.
