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Garret Griffith Gililland III and his wife were found in October in Spain. Garret Griffith Gililland III, who fled to two continents to avoid prosecution and fought a pitched, 11-month battle against extradition, on Friday finally entered a federal courtroom in Sacramento. He is charged with 24 counts stemming from an alleged large mortgage fraud scheme and has alleged ties to what has been described by federal authorities as a $100 million mortgage fraud based in Roseville, the largest in the history of the Sacramento region. Gililland, 28, fled on the night of June 26, 2008, wearing his Breitling watch but leaving behind his custom "Jesse James" motorcycle, Adobe Photoshop software, a garage full of marijuana and an assortment of flat screen televisions. FBI and Internal Revenue Service agents had raided his mansion in Chico that day and seized thousands of documents, according to a court memorandum filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Russell Carlberg. Gililland delayed his departure just long enough to pull together an estimated $250,000 in cash and make the rounds of his associates to warn them the agents were closing in, the memo says. Two of them took the hint and also skipped the country. One was captured trying to re-enter the United States at a Canadian border crossing. The other is still at large. Gililland, his wife, Nicole Magpusao, and their 3-year-old daughter first went to Colombia, where he tried but failed to open a nightclub. The family moved on to Sitges, a Spanish village on the Mediterranean coast. Things started unraveling, the memo relates, when an unidentified Sacramento man "who served as his unofficial banker" mailed $20,000 in a Pringles potato chip can to a false name in Barcelona, Spain. Agents intercepted the package and seized the cash. They thought about filling it with potato chips, but finally sent an empty can on its way. Some in court Friday were second-guessing the decision to skip the chips. Gililland and Magpusao were arrested Oct. 16. He has been in custody since. She was released to care for their little girl and is still in Spain fighting extradition. After he lost his extradition fight, Gililland applied for asylum, but Spain didn't want him. When deputy U.S. marshals went to get him Thursday in Barcelona, he refused to leave his cell. A bodybuilder and brawler of some renown, Gililland had to be wrestled to the floor by Spanish authorities and then strapped into a wheelchair in order to ready him for air travel. He was booked into the Sacramento County Main Jail late Thursday. He entered the courtroom Friday wearing a scowl and the traditional orange inmate ensemble, handcuffed to a belly chain and shuffling along in leg irons. His head is nearly shaved and his big arms are covered in tattoos. San Diego attorney Philip DeMassa entered a not guilty plea on his behalf and asked for a bail hearing Wednesday. U.S. Magistrate Judge Gregory G. Hollows kept a straight face while informing DeMassa he will be paddling upstream on the issue of obtaining Gililland's release.