The Palau Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the arrest of DHL heir Larry Hillbroom for violation of probation when he failed to enter into the addiction therapy in California.
Hillbroom will be arrested once he re-enter Palau and will be detained “until a violation of probation hearing takes place.”
Under the probation, Hillbroom was supposed to go to Los Angeles, California for a six-month rehabilitation program at an institution called Recover Integrity.
Instead, Hillbroom “violated the condition of his probation” by failing to go to California for the in-patient addiction therapy. He traveled to Idaho where he was arrested for no-contact order violation.
Assistant Attorney General Graham Leach said Hillbrrom has also served time in jail for his Idaho arrest; his whereabouts in the U.S. however is unknown.
Leach said the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) is still exploring options on Hillbroom’s extradition.
In September, instead of a jail term for violation of probation, Associate Justice Lourdes Materne issued a judgment allowing Hillbroom to leave Palau for treatment because of his wealth and the lack of rehabilitation programs on the island.
Prosecutors asked for a 30-year sentence but Materne said Hillbroom’s wealth meant he was in a unique position to seek treatment that was unavailable in Palau.
Under the probation, Hillbroom as supposed to go to Los Angeles, California for a six-month rehabilitation program at an institution called Recover Integrity.
Instead, Hillbroom “violated the condition of his probation” by failing to go to California for the in-patient addiction therapy, AAG Leach said in a phone interview.
Judge Materne in September warned Hillbroom that if he fails to comply with the conditions of his jail term he will sent to jail for 30 years.
Hillbroom was convicted in June of trafficking methamphetamine here and went on the run in July after failing a drugs test while on probation.
Hillbroom was allowed to leave Palau in December to seek treatment that was unavailable in Palau.
Hillbroom, who holds US and Palau passports, is the son of the late Larry Hillblom, co-founder of the freight giant DHL, although their surnames are spelled differently. (Bernadette H. Carreon)
He is one of four illegitimate children sired by Hillblom and successfully sued for a share of the billionaire businessman’s fortune after Hillblom died in a plane crash in 1995.
Hillbroom used to reside in the U.S. and was visiting Palau in 2016 when he was arrested for allegedly arranging for two women to smuggle methamphetamine from the Philippines to Palau.