America's most wanted found living in a tent near Mont Blanc
Following the relevation that Tiger Woods' wife has been holed up in Chamonix over New Year, it seems she's not the only one to do a runner from the good old US of A.
In a tale worthy of a film plot, a man on America's Most Wanted list has turned up living in a tent nestled under the peak of Mont Blanc on the Courmayeur side of the mountain range. It seems ear, nose and throat specialist Dr Mark Weinberger managed to live the life of a fugitive for five years before being caught by Italian police in December.
Our tale begins back in September 2004, when Weinberger's wife Michelle woke up on their luxury yacht moored at a marina on the Greek island of Mykonos, to find her husband had vanished. Soon realising that he had taken his passport and a significant amount of money he had stashed onboard the boat, it was clear the escape was planned. Odd, when Weinberger had just presented his wife with two fine diamonds as a 30th birthday present.
But it seems the authorities were closing in on Dr Weinberger, with a portfolio of over 25 legal cases hanging over him from patients claiming he had misdiagnosed and even carried out unnecessary operations on patients at his practice in Indiana, all paid for by the insurance policies of the patients. As the cases began to build up, the cracks in Weinberger's lifestyle did too, with the surgery racking up debts of $5.7 million dollars and even the unpaid mooring fees for the boat in Mykonos amounting to $40,000.
The subsequent search for the dodgy surgeon, who was brought up in a prosperous New York suburb and educated at UCLA medical school before opening up his own surgery in Illinois, brought nothing. The case even featured on the TV show 'America's Most Wanted' and his wife Michelle was often interviewed on television about the amazing vanishing act.
So how did the Italian police find him in a tent on the Italian slopes? It seems the man always had a penchant for the Italian lifestyle, often jetting off to spend holidays in the Med, but we wonder if living in a tent on the snowy slopes, eating tinned food and melting snow to drink is the glamourous Italian lifestyle he'd hoped for.
However, it seems things had indeed been planned in advance, as staff at his surgery claim there was always an out of bounds room they dubbed the 'scary room' - so full of survival gear it must have looked like a branch of Millets. American police say once they had discovered Weinberger was missing, all the contents of this room had disappeared, presumably having been shipped out to Europe in advance of his escape.
As for his bizarre discovery, a guide had spotted the mysterious man who lived in the tent in sub zero temperatures on the slopes below Mont Blanc and reported him to police. After some investigation, it seems the Italians had cottoned on to who he might be. Mid-December and a party of Italian police led by a mountain guide trudged up the mountain to find Weinberger. The team then coaxed the missing surgeon out of his tent on a ruse that he needed to go back to the valley floor for some reason, without letting on they know his real identity. Once in Courmayeur police station, Weinberger realised his mountain goat lifestyle had been rumbled and his true identity was known.
So instead of taking it gracefully, the 46 year old wanted man tried to take his own life when he was allowed to go to the loo, using a small knife he'd concealed in his undies. However, despite being a top surgeon, Weinberger missed the vital artery and Police administered first aid at the scene.
The American authorities had 40 days from the time of arrest to post a request for Weinberger to be extradited back to the USA to stand trial for malpractice on multiple counts.
We're placing our bets now on who'll play Weinberger in the Hollywood biopic about the man's great Mont Blanc escape and our money is on Tom Hanks as the Doctor and Julia Roberts as the 'blissfully unaware' wife who still stands by his side! Cue book deal, Jay Leno show appearances...
Source : guardian.co.uk
Pic : Italian police
