A former Fayetteville businessman accused of bilking $1.7 million from retirement accounts has been located -�more than 11 years after he skipped town.

Homer Forrester, now 61, was apprehended recently in Spain along with his alleged partner in crime, Donna Lynch, 50, according to Lt. Col. Bruce Jordan of the Fayette County Sheriff's Office.

Jordan was not aware of how the two were caught, nor exactly where in Spain they were found at the time. Forrester and Lynch, who lived in Atlanta at the time, face federal charges and will appear in court Thursday morning, Jordan said.

Forrester ran the Center for Financial Planning Inc., then located at 115 Habersham Drive in Fayetteville, Jordan said. The scam diverted money from the retirement accounts of seven elderly victims, as Forrester forged their names to documents so the money could be routed outside the United States, Jordan said.

The forgeries occurred just after Christmas in December 1993, Jordan said. The investigation initially led to Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., after Forrester called his daughter Christy at her home in Fayetteville from a phone in Ft. Lauderdale, Jordan said.

Forrester's car was found parked at the Ft. Lauderdale International Airport with its "HWF" vanity license plate, Jordan said, but he searched around town for Forrester and Lynch to no avail.