A treasure hunter who found a shipwreck packed with 10 tons of gold who allegedly skipped out on investors has been caught by authorities.

Tommy Thompson, 62, was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals Service at a hotel in Palm Beach County, Florida, on Tuesday. He had been on the run since 2012 after a federal civil warrant had been issued when he failed to show up to a court hearing, according to a Fox News report.

Thompson and his companion, Alison Anteiker, were arrested are are awaiting a hearing in Florida before they are to be extradited to Ohio to answer to the warrant.

It was Thompson who in 1987 discovered the SS Central America, dubbed the Ship of Gold, and his team pulled up thousands of gold bars and coins which was sold for about $50 million to a gold marketing group.

After fighting in the courts with insurance companies and investors, Thompson fled his Florida mansion when a warrant was isued fo rhis arrest in 2012.

The U.S. Marshals Service had a hard time tracking Thompson down even after running billboards of his image in Ohio and Florida.

The SS Central America sank about 160 miles off the coast of South Carolina during a hurricane in 1857, killing nearly all of the 477 people on board and leaving 21 tons on the bottom of the sea floor at 8,000 feet. Thompson found the wreck and sent a remotely operated vehicle built fo rthe expedition to search the wreck for gold, a technological feat at the time.

He sold the bars and coins, but allegedly tried to bilk his crew and the investors who funded the expedition.

Visits to the shipwreck since then by a deep-ocean exploration company has recovered 15,500 gold and silver coins and 45 gold bars from the wreck, as well as jewelry and gold nuggets.