08:47 PM CST on Sunday, January 11, 2004

Associated Press and 11 News Staff Reports

The flamboyant League City businessman who was thought to be dead, but turned up very much alive was arraigned Sunday in Parker County near Fort Worth.

He was formally charged with three felonies, felony fraud, being a fugitive from justice and possession of a controlled substance. Bond was denied on the first two counts and bond was set at $40,000 on the controlled substance charge.

The U.S. Coast Guard spent several days unsuccessfully searching for Larry Michael Nixon, 54, of Clear Lake after his 40-foot speedboat, the "Living Extra Fast," collided with a barge in the ship channel on Aug. 27.

He was arrested near Fort Worth Friday on a felony fraud warrant from West Virginia, said Lowell Moss, a spokesman for the Parker County Sheriff's Office.

KHOU-TV Mike Nixon was arrested and jailed in Weatherford, Texas Friday.

Days after the boating accident, Minnwest Bank Central of Montevideo, Minn., filed suit against Nixon and his company, Delta Crane, which leased large equipment to contractors. Papers in the lawsuit contend that Nixon entered into a Feb. 25 agreement with the bank providing him with a $4 million line of credit. Bankers gave Nixon a notice of default 22 days before the boat collision and demanded payment.

The West Virginia fraud charge was connected to a 1994 incident in which one man has already been convicted in a scheme to lease a crane he didn't own.

Nixon, well-known for his love of fast boats and parties, was arrested while living in the guesthouse on a gated estate of several acres off Interstate 20, just west of Weatherford in Parker County, by deputies acting on a tip from the Dallas FBI office.

"Initially, we thought he probably went to South America," said Kemah Police Chief Roy Owen, whose agency initially investigated the boating collision.

Owen said investigators were initially suspicious about the boat crash. The position of the controls and damage to the boat led them to believe there was no driver on board when it crashed.

Nixon surrendered peacefully to deputies who found significant amounts of what they believe are steroids in the guesthouse.

Other suits and charges could follow.