A Slovak man who was on the lam from Italian law enforcement for 16 years was arrested after going to the Olympics to watch men’s hockey.
On Wednesday, the 44-year-old man, as of yet unnamed publicly, went to Milan to watch the opening match of the Slovakian national men’s hockey team play Finland in the Olympics.
Hotel staff alerted the Italian national police, who showed up and arrested him, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
The man was wanted on a 2010 warrant in Bolzano, Italy, about 126 miles northeast of Milan on charges of commercial theft, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Serra.
Italy’s national police said the man will now have to serve time in prison for 11 months and a week for the series of shop thefts, according to Reuters.
The Slovakian men’s national team won Wednesday, upsetting the Finnish team 4-1. They then defeated host country Italy on Friday 3-2, but lost in their final preliminary group stage game to Sweden 5-3 on Saturday.
The men’s hockey tournament is still in the group stage, and the remaining games to be played Saturday and Sunday will determine whether Slovakia automatically advances to the qualifiers or whether its team will have to play in a play-in round first.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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