Aubrey Lee Price and the price of "freedom"

Back on July 6, 2012, the FDIC issued a press release regarding the failure of a small Georgia bank.

Montgomery Bank & Trust, Ailey, Georgia, was closed today by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with Ameris Bank, Moultrie, Georgia, to assume all of the deposits of Montgomery Bank & Trust.

The FDIC press release didn't say WHY the bank failed, but a few days later, more information came out.

Authorities are investigating the disappearance of a South Georgia banker who is accused in a $40 million fraud case.

Aubrey Lee Price, 46, disappeared on June 16 after telling acquaintances that he had lost a large amount of money and that he planned to kill himself, according to a complaint charging him with wire fraud involving the embezzlement of $17 million from a Georgia bank.

Price was a director at Montgomery Bank & Trust, which was shut down on Friday. He controlled its investments before disappearing last month, the complaint states.

According to speculation at the time, some felt that Price was NOT dead, but was instead living the good life.

CBS affiliate WTOC reports that although authorities say they at first thought Price was suicidal, information now suggests he may have left the country. The FBI reportedly believes Price may be hiding in Venezuela....

According to the wire fraud complaint, Price has told acquaintances that he owns real estate in Venezuela and Guatemala. Price recently traveled to Venezuela and returned to the United States from that trip on June 2, 2012.

Although he was legally declared dead on December 31, 2012, authorities found a very alive Aubrey Lee Price exactly one year later, on December 31, 2013. But they didn't find him in Venezuela.

Authorities say Aubrey Lee Price, 47, was pulled over by police in Brunswick for his vehicle's illegally tinted windows on Tuesday and after a bit of questioning, they realized who he was.

And no, that's not Brunswick, Venezuela or Brunswick, Guatemala. That's Brunswick, Georgia - approximately 100 miles from the former Montgomery Bank & Trust.

And according to a claim by Price on Thursday while appearing in Federal court, that car with tinted windows WASN'T taking him to a mansion hideout.

Price told authorities he's been homeless for the past year and a half, and traveled around the country working as a migrant worker.

While there's a possibility that (GASP!) Price may not be telling the truth, it appears likely that at a minimum, Price wasn't enjoying the good life with millions of dollars in the Caribbean. Instead he very well may have been the bearded dude that did odd jobs for cash.

But he was a "free" man - until his tinted windows did him in.