This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2009, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Fugitive commodities trader Keith H. Debus was arrested by the FBI in Salt Lake City on Wednesday morning.
Debus, who is facing charges in New Mexico for allegedly defrauding a Sante Fe woman of $25,000 in a commodities trading scheme, is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail.
A grand jury in Sante Fe County, N.M., in early March handed up an indictment charging Debus with two counts of securities fraud, one count of fraud of more than $20,000 and two other violations of that state's securities laws.
A bench warrant was issued for his arrest after he failed to voluntarily show up for arraignment on April 3.
"As I understand it, he was arrested without incident at a home where he was staying, which was not his normal residence," said Daniel S. Tanaka, a senior special agent at the New Mexico Division of Securities.
Debus, 52, of Holladay, is on probation for an earlier conviction of theft by receiving stolen property. He will have to appear for a parole violation hearing in Utah before he can sent to New Mexico to face charges there, Tanaka said.
Contacted by cell phone on Monday, Debus, who in the past occasionally was quoted in stories in The Salt Lake Tribune discussing trends in the commodities markets, contended the case again him was a witch hunt.
"The market has fallen, people have lost money and now there are those who are out there looking for someone to blame," said Debus, who could face up to 21 years in prison if convicted of all charges in New Mexico.