Michael Hilton, the shadowy figure behind the unsuccessful attempt to take over a rural Montana prison, failed to show in a California court Thursday in an unrelated years-old case about duping investors in an elder care home that was never built. A bench warrant has been issued. This from the San Francisco Chronicle.

"Captain" Michael Hilton first appeared on our radar when his private security firm, American Police Force, struck a deal to turn a 464-bed jail in Hardin, Montana, into a law enforcement training facility for operations as elaborate as defending cruise ships. The contract has since been canceled but Hilton apparently is still on the lam.

This shouldn't be surprising. Since 1988 Hilton, a convicted felon, has been accused of fraud, larceny, and breach of contract and spent three years in prison for grand theft. The plaintiff in the Los Angeles case in which he refused to appear has a judgment against Hilton for $700,000.