The search is still on for a Scranton businessman who was supposed to report to prison Tuesday to begin serving a sentence for bank fraud.
He never showed.
Joseph Donahue knows what prison is like because he spent time there back in the 80s. His name may not ring a bell but he served time in federal prison for his role in one of the region’s most notorious crime operations.
Now federal agents want to know where is Joe Donahue?
A federal jury convicted Donahue in March for defrauding local banks and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
In December, a judge sentenced Donahue to 10 years in prison. When he failed to report to a New Jersey prison Tuesday, U.S. Marshals began their manhunt.
“There is no greater injustice than a defendant who turns his back on justice, and that is the case here,” said Martin Pane of the U.S. Marshals Service.
The U.S. Marshals’ office does not consider Donahue to be dangerous. A better description might be notorious.
“Because of his notoriety, because of the role he played in the Rik Luytjes international cocaine smuggling and trafficking operation. This is an interesting guy,” said Steve Corbett of WILK Radio.
In the mid-1980s Joe Donahue was a key figure in the Air America drug ring led by Scranton businessman Rik Luytjes. For three years, Luytjes’ courier planes smuggled billions of dollars of cocaine from Columbia to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport.
Federal prosecutors claimed Donahue laundered Air America’s drug profits through banks in the Grand Cayman Islands. Donahue served two years in prison. Twenty years after Air America was put out of operation federal prosecutors again charged and convicted Donahue of financial crimes.
“He’s certainly not happy about what happened, about the losses that anybody sustained, including his own family,” said Donahue’s attorney Phil Lauer.
Donahue appealed his conviction. A judge rejected the appeal just before Christmas.
“We emailed back and forth. We spoke several times on the telephone,” Corbett added.
In the week before he was to head to prison, Donahue asked radio talk show host Corbett to look into his most recent case.
“He sounded, despondent might not be the accurate word, but he sounded concerned about his situation,” said Corbett.
“We will bring this man to justice,” Pane vowed. “We’re that confident. This is what we do.”
When Donahue laundered money for the Air America drug running operation he frequently traveled to the Bahamas, and other Caribbean islands but the marshals’ office said it’s too soon to suggest Donahue fled the country, instead of reporting to prison.