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US jailers keeping close eye on busy Colombian conman

They will be watching Juan Carlos Guzman Betancourt very closely at his jail in Vermont. The last time the silver-tongued Colombian conman with a taste for the high life was locked up, he later walked out of the British prison after persuading the authorities to let him go to the dentist alone.

But after illegally crossing the border from Canada, he faces the prospect of eight countries and Nevada asking for his extradition.

Guzman Betancourt, 33, is believed to have stolen US$1 million worldwide by conning his way into hotel rooms and emptying safes, as well as more routine fraud.

The Colombian has at least 10 identities and has been pursued in Canada, Colombia, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and Venezuela. He has been convicted of larceny in Virginia and New York and credit card fraud in Florida. He has also been deported from the US three times.

In his earliest known con he was found on the runway of Miami airport claiming to be a 13-year-old orphan who had clung to the undercarriage of a flight from Colombia.

That story generated an outpouring of sympathy and tens of thousands of dollars in donations to a support fund. After he fled with the cash it emerged he was 17 years old with two healthy parents.

Guzman Betancourt was known in Britain as Gonzalo Zapater Vives.

British detective Andy Swindells described him as a highly accomplished liar who staked out high class hotels, identified wealthy victims and waited for them to leave their rooms. Then he persuaded hotel staff to let him in, and once there would call security claiming to have forgotten the key or security code to the safe. He walked out with money, jewels and passports.

Guzman Betancourt was detained by US border guards earlier this month after a tip-off as he waited for a taxi at a gas station. He tried to persuade the officials that he had wandered across the frontier accidentally after his car broke down.

The border guards took him into custody as a suspected illegal immigrant until his fingerprints revealed him as the elusive conman.
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