CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Federal authorities have been looking for a Maine woman for three years and they have a hunch she might be in the Charlotte area this weekend.

Jacqueline Lizotte, 55, is a federal fugitive and a huge NASCAR fan. “We know she has traveled the Eastern seaboard to major NASCAR events before,” U.S. Marshal William Marr said.

Marr hopes someone will spot the 55-year-old Lizotte among the 180,000 fans expected Sunday when the Coca-Cola 600 is run at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.

Lizotte is described on Maine’s Most Wanted list as a 4-foot-11, 130-pound white woman with blonde hair, hazel eyes and bad teeth. She is accused of embezzling $162,000 from a Lewiston, Maine, insurance company where she worked as bookkeeper and office manager.

She also is charged with fleeing the state to avoid prosecution.

In early May 2001, Lizotte told her husband she was going on an out-of-town business trip. When she didn’t return home on the date expected, her husband called her employer and found out there was no business trip.

That was the same day she was supposed to be arraigned on the felony embezzlement charge, Marr said.

—

On the Net:

Maine’s Most Wanted: www.mainemostwanted.org

AP-ES-05-29-04 1728EDT