MIAMI — Roy Attia pleaded guilty to a cocaine trafficking charge in Miami-Dade court on Aug. 24, 2018. The next day, staring down a long prison sentence, federal agents say the 32-year-old boarded a flight from Miami to Paris and had been the subject of an international law enforcement search over the following years.
But, according to court documents obtained by Local 10 News on Thursday, a tip led agents to determine that Attia, now 39, was living in France to escape that 30-year state prison sentence, handed down in absentia on Sept. 21, 2018.
He now faces a federal charge of flight to avoid prosecution.
According to a criminal complaint filed by an FBI special agent, Attia was first arrested in an undercover sting by North Miami Beach police on July 17, 2018. Authorities said he bought more than a kilogram of cocaine from an individual for $25,000.
After being jailed and pleading guilty, Attia ― a dual citizen of the U.S. and France ― boarded Air France Flight 99 on Aug. 25, 2018 and hadn’t been seen since, the agent said. North Miami Beach police worked with Interpol to issue a Red Notice, a worldwide fugitive alert, in December 2021.
Authorities said someone who knows Attia sent a tip in late January after seeing Attia was posting to Snapchat from France. According to the complaint, she wondered why he was in France and found records online about the North Miami Beach case.
Authorities said FBI agents were able to corroborate her tip.
What’s not clear is if or where Attia was captured or is being held. Federal court records shed no light on that subject as of Thursday afternoon and Attia didn’t show up in local, state or federal correctional records. A second entry in Attia’s federal court file is listed as “restricted/sealed until further notice.”
An FBI spokesperson, responding to an inquiry about Attia’s whereabouts, declined to comment and directed Local 10 News to federal prosecutors in the Southern District of Florida. The latter hasn’t responded to an emailed request as of Thursday afternoon.
Attia’s Miami-Dade court file listed a $263,103 “balance due” as of Thursday.
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