PORTLAND — A former Scarborough man who avoided jail time last year by agreeing to pay restitution to a church he defrauded is wanted by authorities again after failing to meet the conditions of his plea deal.

Darren McDunnah, 52, was charged with promising the Adullam Gospel Church in Cobleskill, N.Y., a $1.6 million return on a $400,000 investment in 2004 while actually planning to use the money himself. The church, now called Cobleskill Full Gospel Church, had planned to use its investment return to start two religious television stations.

Under the plea deal, McDunnah pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to pay the church $16,000. In return, the state would drop a theft charge and postpone sentencing.

McDunnah, son of the late Floyd “Mac” McDunnah, a Boothbay Harbor police chief, failed to pay the restitution by his March deadline and did not appear for a court date in May. A warrant has been issued for his arrest.

Authorities are not certain where McDunnah is, but believe he may be in Arizona, said Assistant Attorney General Michael Colleran. Before his arrest, McDunnah had been a fugitive for several years.

He was brought back to Maine after an anonymous tip to the Attorney General’s Office led to his arrest in Arizona.

“I suspect the same thing will happen. It’s just a matter of how long it takes before he’s arrested,” Colleran said.

He said he had not decided what sentence he would recommend when McDunnah is apprehended.

Last year, the prosecutor said he would request no additional jail time if McDunnah paid the restitution, but would seek up to five years, with credit for 13 months already served, if he did not.

In May, McDunnah wrote to a judge that he was trying to fulfill the restitution order but was having trouble finding a job because of the poor economy and his status as a felon. McDunnah wrote that he had been retained as a private consultant by ASM Enterprises in Long Beach, Calif., and expected to receive a $50,000 signing bonus within three months. He asked the judge for a six-month extension.

District Court Judge Rick Lawrence denied McDunnah’s motion.

The Rev. Richard Smith said the nondenominational church of about 60 members was able to get the television ministry on the air and on the Internet. The loan for the $400,000 investment had been secured by a certificate of deposit from a third party, allowing the church to recoup that money.

That transferred any losses to the third party not identified in court papers.

But Smith said he and his wife and co-pastor, Diana, lost their savings because they had to pay interest on the loan for about a year and a half.

“It almost totally destroyed us,” said Smith, who is also the president and founder of the church. “God gave us a miracle almost every week, donations coming in every week, unsolicited.”

Another man, Thomas Acker, pleaded guilty in 2008 to securities fraud for the transaction with the church and other investment schemes that cost friends and clients more than $2 million. Acker, who had a law office in Falmouth, was disbarred and sentenced to nearly three years in prison.

Staff Writer Ann S. Kim can be contacted at 791-6383 or at: akim@pressherald.com

Twitter: AnnKimPPH