Florida fugitive taken into custody

By Walter Wright and Hugh Clark
Advertiser Staff Writers

An accused Florida drug dealer who allegedly disappeared eight years ago with $10 million to $20 million in gold has been arrested on the Big Island with a few Harley Davidson motorcycles and an interest in some Hawai'i real estate.

Police Capt. John Dawrs, commander of the Kona district, said Tomas Ruck was arrested in Kailua village on Oct. 10 after authorities found a girlfriend in Idaho who was forwarding his mail to Hawai'i.

U.S. marshals got in touch with police in Kona, and Ruck was captured near a motorcycle shop.

He was arrested without incident and taken to O'ahu, where U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang ordered that he be taken to Florida for a detention hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Silverberg asked that Ruck be held without bail on grounds that he faces more than 10 years in prison, and was a flight risk and a danger to others.

Police said that Ruck was living near La'aloa, also known as Magic Sands, south of Kailua in the Kona district, and that there were four Harley Davidson motorcycles registered to him.

Ruck told the court here he was too poor to afford an attorney. He listed his assets as one Harley worth $5,000 and an undivided interest in some Big Island real estate.

Ruck is accused of being the top man in one of the largest cocaine-smuggling operations in the history of Southwest Florida, and allegedly paid his associates with suitcases filled with money.

Ruck fled in 1993 after being indicted on charges of importing and dealing in cocaine and marijuana. Federal agents said at the time he took between $10 million and $20 million worth of gold with him.

Reach Walter Wright at 525-8054 or wwright@honoluluadvertiser.com