Days before his scheduled sentencing date in one of the biggest public corruption scandals in U.S. military history, the man known as "Fat Leonard" was arrested in Venezuela on Sept. 20, U.S. Marshals Service confirmed to CBS 8. Leonard Francis, the defense contractor behind a bribery scheme that bilked the U.S. government out of tens of millions of dollars, escaped his house arrest on Sunday, Sept. 4 in San Diego. According to reports, he was attempting to board a flight when he was arrested in Caracas, Venezuela. "We were tracking him since he left San Diego. I can tell you he did go to Mexico. I can tell you that he did board a flight within Mexico. We’ve been doing this for a long time. You can try to go to other countries but we can still find you and bring you back to justice," said Omar Castillo, a supervisory deputy U.S. Marshal in San Diego. MORE: https://www.cbs8.com/article/news/crime/fat-leonard-arrested-in-venezuela-after-fleeing-san-diego-ahead-of-sentencing/509-966a6c85-2bdb-40a6-aff4-fc31114dd051