Nassau fugitive facing prison time applied for corrections officer job in Colorado

A fugitive who dodged a prison sentence here in New York got caught when he tried to get into prison a different way — as a corrections officer in Colorado.

Osokam Ekufia, 48, of Newark, New Jersey, bailed out on his October 2024 sentencing in Nassau County Court on a grand larceny plea that was supposed to put him behind bars, authorities said. A year later, while still on the run, he applied for a job guarding inmates in Colorado.

That background check didn’t go so well.

Colorado investigators ran Ekufia’s name and discovered his active warrant out of Nassau, authorities said. They called Nassau County Police, who had been looking for him ever since he skipped his sentencing date.

“This defendant should have been occupying a jail cell, not applying for a job to patrol them,” Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said Monday.

Ekufia was nabbed in Colorado late last month and extradited to Long Island over the weekend, Donnelly said. He was arraigned on a new indictment for second-degree bail jumping, pleading not guilty before Judge Helene Gugerty.

He’s scheduled to return to court on June 5.

Now being held in custody without any opportunity for bail, he faces up to four years in prison if convicted of the latest charge.

Ekufia’s case dates to 2022, when a Massapequa lawyer was hired by someone calling himself “Paul Gam” to help complete a medical equipment purchase, prosecutors said.

The lawyer received an $84,620 cashier’s check, deposited it, and transferred $77,500 for the equipment purchase per his client’s instructions, Donnelly explained. When the bank flagged the check as fraudulent, the lawyer was out $77,500.

Financial records traced the money to Ekufia’s account, where he had already withdrawn the funds, authorities said.

Ekufia was indicted in October 2023 on grand larceny charges. In April 2024, he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and agreed to pay $50,000 in restitution within six months — or face one to three years in prison.

He allegedly paid only $10,000.

When Ekufia failed to appear for his October 2024 sentencing, a warrant was issued for his arrest. A grand jury indicted him for bail jumping in October 2025.

That same month, the Colorado Department of Corrections Background Investigations Unit contacted Nassau cops about Ekufia’s application.

“Osokam Ekufia deliberately and knowingly entered into a plea agreement that could have meant jail time if he did not deliver on the promised restitution,” Donnelly said. “When he came up short, he allegedly skipped town and tried to escape accountability altogether.”

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