Longtime fugitive pleads guilty in New Jersey fraud case

HACKENSACK, N.J. — A con man who eluded authorities for 13 years has pleaded guilty to defrauding investors of more than $1 million, authorities with the New Jersey attorney general’s office said.

Douglas D’Arpino, 64, formerly of New York City, entered the plea to a fraud conspiracy charge in state Superior Court in Hackensack on Monday. D’Arpino surrendered to authorities in Las Vegas in June.

Prosecutors say he and a partner in a River Edge, N.J., investment firm called Stackpole Designs Agency persuaded clients to invest about $1.9 million in various fraudulent schemes between 1989 and 1994. They were indicted in 1997.

D’Arpino faces up to five years in state prison at sentencing on Feb. 18 and must pay more than $500,000 in restitution.