Rebecca Parrett, a former National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. executive who fled the U.S. to avoid a 25-year prison term

Rebecca Parrett, a former National Century Financial Enterprises Inc. executive who fled the U.S. to avoid a 25-year prison term, was arrested in a Mexican resort town where she liked to dance, a U.S. official said.

Parrett, 62, was picked up yesterday by Mexican immigration authorities in Ajijic, Jalisco, Deputy U.S. Marshal Brian Babtist said today. Parrett was convicted in Columbus, Ohio, in March 2008 for her role in a $2.9 billion fraud. Days later, while out on bail, she fled her home in Carefree, Arizona. She was declared a fugitive and sentenced in absentia in March 2009.

“She was living in the lap of luxury,” Babtist said in a telephone interview from Columbus. “She was having fun, telling people that she was an American who had testified against several people in a large white-collar crime case. She was trying to stay anonymous and using an alias.”

Parrett was flown yesterday from Guadalajara to Los Angeles, where she was arrested on a warrant, he said.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian, at a hearing today in federal court in Los Angeles, ordered Parrett to be detained and transferred to Columbus. Parrett, who was represented by a public defender, waived her right to an identity hearing in Los Angeles.

She was convicted with four other executives in 2008 of fraud, money laundering and conspiracy. She was also ordered to pay $2.38 billion in restitution. Parrett, a former vice chairman, secretary and treasurer, was one of 10 executives who were convicted at trial or pleaded guilty.

Anti-Aging Treatments

“I’ve heard that she liked to go out dancing,” Babtist said. “She was getting treatments from a Mexican anti-aging doctor regularly. For somebody who’s on the run, it was pretty good.”

Agents had long suspected that Parrett was in Mexico, Babtist said. “It was a matter of narrowing down the search and actually pinpointing the location,” he said.