Sailboating fugitives, 7 kids, captured in Bahamas

DENVER -- A Texas couple accused of sailing to the Bahamas with their seven children to escape federal prosecution for swindling farmers was arrested and deported to Miami this week after a vacationing family recognized them.

Donald Winberg, 44, and Karlien Winberg, 33, were indicted in Denver last April and fled to Texas in the fall, prosecutors said. There, the couple bought a sailboat and claimed to be heading out on a long voyage, but the boat capsized near Galveston and the Winbergs had to be rescued by firefighters, according to news reports. They gave rescuers fake names and vanished, leaving the luxury yacht stuck in the water.

Prosecutors say the Winbergs bought a second sailboat and headed to the Bahamas. A Louisiana family vacationing in the islands recognized the family from news reports and informed Bahamian authorities, who then arrested the Winbergs on Wednesday. The entire family was flown to Miami on Thursday, and the seven children are being assessed by child-protective workers, prosecutors said.

"They were arrested without incident on a boat near the Staniel Cay Yacht Club in the Bahamas," federal prosecutors in Denver said Friday. "The defendants failed to provide identification documents, and the Bahamian authorities, knowing about the federal arrest warrants, arrested the two defendants."

According to court records, the Winbergs, of Earth, Texas, falsely advertised on the Internet that they had hay and corn for sale and would take farmers' money but not deliver. They fled to Texas last spring while out on bond, prosecutors said.

The Winbergs face thousands in fines and decades in prison if convicted of wire-fraud charges.