Man facing $8.7M embezzlement case hid on Appalachian Trail

CINCINNATI — He was known as "Bismarck," a genial, thick-bearded hiker who had become a familiar character along the Appalachian Trail over the past six years, and a regular at Susie Montgomery's bed-and-breakfast in a small Virginia town — until the day the FBI showed up.

"I'd say he was one of my favorite guests," said Montgomery, whose four-bedroom Montgomery Homestead Inn offers on its website a place to "forget life's stresses" for a slower, simpler life. "He was a smart man, interesting to talk to; a pleasant personality. All of the other people who stayed here liked him."

He was in his room, she recalled, on May 16 during the annual Trail Days festival that brings thousands of people into tiny Damascus, Virginia, when she responded to a knock on the door. She recounted finding three agents, one holding up a picture of Bismarck. He told her they believed her guest was someone the FBI wanted, she said. Her husband spotted someone guarding the back door.

Soon Bismarck was being led away in handcuffs, and the FBI was announcing the arrest of James T. Hammes, a white-collar crime suspect missing since 2009.

"They allowed me to hug him," she said. "He whispered to me that he was sorry that this happened."

More