Rosemary Sauter, the St. Thomas realtor who disappeared from the territory in early 2010, allegedly taking millions of dollars in client money with her, was arrested by the FBI Thursday in San Diego.
FBI Special Agent Darrell Foxworth, of the bureau’s San Diego office, said Sauter was arrested near Fallbrook, Calif., without incident. She was arrested by FBI agents with the assistance of deputies from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, pursuant to a federal arrest warrant.
On Friday, Sauter was fingerprinted and photographed at the FBI San Diego Field Office and booked into San Diego’s Metropolitan Correctional Center.
V.I. Attorney General Vincent Frazer said Friday afternoon he expects his office to bring her back to the territory for prosecution.
"There is a process for that" he said. "She will be brought to the territory for prosecution."
Sauter, who once had been the president of the V.I. Territorial Board of Realtors and the St. Thomas Board of Realtors, vanished from the territory in February 2010. According to reports at the time, she had taken with her about $2.5 million from accounts placed in her care by her real estate customers, leaving behind questions about her role in a police corruption case and an alleged murder-for-hire plot aimed at her husband.
She was named in two arrest warrants, both local and federal. Both warrants accused Sauter of embezzlement, grand larceny and obtaining money by false pretenses.