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ARCHIVED - British fugitive wanted in the US arrested in northern Spain
The Northern Ireland woman had been on the run for a decade before being tracked down in Spain’s Basque Country
A 54-year-old woman from Northern Ireland appeared before the National Court in Spain on Thursday September 9 to face an extradition hearing after being captured in Bizkaia in the Basque Country following a decade on the run. Alison Gracey was apprehended on April 4 shortly after she appeared on US television program ‘America’s Most Wanted’ aired by the Fox Network and faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and document falsification.
The saga began back in 2011 when Gracey ran a boat rental company in Florida with her husband, also wanted by the United States authorities. On December 18 2011, while on a boat trip with two hikers, their vessel ‘Get Wet’ sank, trapping the guests in the cabin. One was saved, but 36-year-old Aimee Rhads died in the accident.
A subsequent investigation found that the boat was not sea-worthy and would frequently fill with water, a fact that led US authorities to prohibit them from carrying more than six people just two years before. However, they did not shut down the business, despite the fact that several employees of the British couple reported that the vessel was unsafe. In addition, because the pair were not US citizens, they were actually not licensed to operate this type of boat, and so convinced a staff member to falsely claim he had purchased the vessel from them so that they could continue their illegal business.
“[Gracey] omitted the most elementary precautions required of those who, due to their professional status, must have special training and preparation for the performance of their duties,” the prosecutor said at the hearing.
Faced with the serious charges, the pair fled, but were arrested on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten in 2015. They were released on bail pending extradition, but once again disappeared before resurfacing briefly in France in 2017, according to the Fox program.
The couple was eventually tracked to northern Spain this year, and a decision will be made within a few days about whether or not to extradite Gracey back to the United States to face manslaughter charges there.
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