SAN JOSE, Calif. — A former Cisco Systems Inc. executive appeared in a San Jose federal courtroom Thursday after more than a month in hiding.
Robert S. Gordon, who apparently was living in a Park City condo during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, had been missing since early April. He disappeared while negotiating a plea deal to resolve charges he embezzled up to $20 million from Cisco through various fraud schemes.
Gordon, who is from Palo Alto, turned up in the psychiatric ward of a Santa Barbara hospital last weekend, recovering from a suicide attempt that left him unconscious for three days. He was transferred to the psychiatric unit of a Mountain View hospital after leaving messages with his lawyers and law enforcement officials that hinted to his whereabouts, and was back in federal custody Wednesday.
While his lawyers urged U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia Trumbull to allow a pale and emaciated Gordon to remain at the hospital because of his suicidal state, Trumbull sided with prosecutors and ordered him transferred to a federal institution to be evaluated.