During her time as an international bodybuilder, Maria Luca Zavoczki frequently travelled to and from the United States to partake in internationally sanctioned bodybuilding events in Florida and California. Zavoczki now faces a ten-year prison term in Hungary after three months on the run in the US from the Fugitive Division of INTERPOL Washington and other authorities.
According to the US Department of Justice, in February the former bodybuilder fled Hungary and went on the lam to evade drug distribution charges. She was also sought for her role and participation in a European criminal enterprise that specialised in manufacturing bogus credit cards and committing bank fraud in Hungary, Austria and Italy, authorities said.
The chase led federal agents through California, Colorado, Florida, Maryland and Mexico, during which she allegedly used multiple aliases.
As Zavoczki fled through the US the Department of State Diplomatic Security Service realised that she “more than likely obtained a US passport by fraudulent means, while using a stolen identity”. Allegedly, she utilised this passport during international travel and as an official identity document.
From 2003 until 2012 Zavoczki devised what the Department of Justice calls an “elaborate scheme to change her identity and citizenship to avoid prosecution in Hungary”.
On 20 May, the US Marshals Service Office in the Southern District of Florida received intelligence from investigators that Zavoczki was in the area. Feds took her into custody, without incident, with assistance from the Boynton Beach, Florida Police Department.
Zavoczki, one of Hungary’s most-wanted criminals, is being held “pending removal from the US on immigration violations, and document and identity fraud”.
US Marshal for the Southern District of Florida Amos Rojas Jr. said her capture is an “excellent example” of what cooperation between law enforcement officials may accomplish.
