Millionaire Wanted in East Arrested in La Mesa Ruse

San Diego authorities have arrested a millionaire banker on New Jersey’s most wanted list who jumped bail after his conviction for kidnaping and sexual assault, a New Jersey prosecutor said.

Steven Deutsch, 39, was traced to San Diego through bank transactions and his girlfriend, Bergen County prosecutor Larry J. McClure announced Wednesday.

Police said Deutsch was lured from Jamar’s Restaurant on University Avenue in La Mesa around noon Tuesday by a member of the San Diego Police Department’s Special Fugitives Unit.

The officer entered the crowded, popular restaurant, located Deutsch and told him that he thought he may have hit Deutsch’s car in the parking lot. Deutsch went with the officer to the parking lot and was arrested by U.S. marshals and San Diego police.

San Diego police spokesman Bill Robinson said Deutsch, who was considered dangerous, was not armed and did not resist arrest.

Deutsch had been living in San Diego for about a year, most recently on Voltaire Street in Ocean Beach, police said. He had been working as an independent auto broker.

He was convicted two years ago of kidnaping, beating and sexually assaulting Mary Boorman in March, 1984. After posting $40,000 bail the day the verdict was announced, he fled, authorities said.

In October, 1985, Boorman won $5 million in damages from Deutsch in a New York civil suit. The New York City resident has yet to receive any of the money because authorities have been unable to seize Deutsch’s assets.

“I feel wonderful, like a burden has been lifted from me,” Boorman, 46, said Wednesday. “Now I can walk down the street without the fear of seeing him.”

Deutsch is being held on a fugitive warrant in the Metropolitan Correctional Center while awaiting extradition. He faces 60 years in prison for the kidnaping, aggravated sexual assault and aggravated assault convictions.

According to testimony in the eight-day trial, Deutsch ran into Boorman, a casual acquaintance, at a Manhattan restaurant. He offered to drive her to her home 20 blocks away, but instead took her to a Cliffside Park apartment owned by his parents.

There he knocked her unconscious and sexually assaulted her, according to testimony.