Fugitive in $3-million fraud case arrested in Kaimuki

Acting on a tip, federal agents and Honolulu police arrested fugitive Jennifer McTigue at a home in Kaimuki Saturday night.

The FBI and U.S. Marshals Service had asked for the public’s help in finding McTigue, who is scheduled to go to trial next week in a $3-million real estate fraud case.

FBI Special Agent Tom Simon said FBI agents, U.S. Marshals and Honolulu Police officers arrested McTigue at about 11 p.m. at the home of a friend on Pukalani Place in Kaimuki. She is in custody at the Federal Detention Facility near the Honolulu Airport, pending a court appearance on Monday.

McTigue, 48, failed to show up for a meeting with her pretrial services officer, and the FBI issued a news release Tuesday asking for anyone with information on her location to contact authorities.

McTigue — formerly Jennifer Lowe — grew up in East Honolulu and was last seen near Kahala Mall on June 30. 

In the news release, Simon said McTigue has ties with the Sovereign Citizen Movement, a group described by the FBI as “anti-government extremists.”

In an interview Tuesday, Simon described the Sovereign Citizens Movement as “a loosely-knit network of people who believe the laws of the U.S. do not apply to them. It has nothing to do with Hawaiian sovereignty.”

A federal grand jury indicted McTigue last year on criminal charges relating to an alleged $3 million scheme to defraud new homeowners, title companies and banks in a complex real estate scheme.

She had been out on bond awaiting a federal trial scheduled for July 20.