LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - American Police Force's Michael Hilton failed to appear in a California court Thursday morning. A judge has ordered a bench warrant for his arrest.

Court documents shot about 10 years ago, Michael Hilton convinced Richard Earnhardt to invest in elderly care facilities. Earnhardt said, Hilton ran away with the money. A judge ordered Hilton to pay Earnhart back, but he never did. "I didn't think I'd ever hear from him again. It'd been 9 years since I'd seen him in a court house," said Earnhart.

Earnhart's lawyer lives in Montana and heard Hilton's name again when he was in negotiations with TRA. She tracked him down in an attempt to get money for her client. Hilton was ordered to appear at this courthouse Thursday morning at 8:30 a.m. for a Judgment Debtor's Examination.

"That's a procedure in California where I, as the attorney, for Richard Earnhart would get to examine Hilton under oath and ask him all kids of questions about his assets," said Cris Armenta, Earnhart's attorney.

Armenta and Earnhardt watched from inside as people lined up to get in the building, but Hilton was not among them. Armenta said, she also followed up with several phone calls and a letter reminding Hilton of the appearance. “There's no question. He knew he had to be here. That's why the judge ordered the warrant," she said.

KULR-8 spoke to Hilton over the phone Wednesday and he claimed he had no idea he was due in court. Process Server, Joel Farias said, "I can testify that I was there and I served him, so he definitely knew there was a hearing."

The court is processing the paperwork, but expects to issue a warrant for Hilton's arrest by Friday. Armenta is hoping he will be in custody by the weekend saying, "As soon as I can put him together with law enforcement I hope to put him in front of a judge, so we can ask him the questions we need to ask him."

"It's a matter of principle. What he's doing to people's not right. He's trying to take advantage of a lot of people. He's got to be stopped," said Earnhardt.

As KULR-8's crew was pulling out of the neighborhood Wednesday, they saw Hilton entering his home. They called him and he said he was in San Diego. He could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Richard Earnhart's attorney, Cris Armenta, told KULR-8 deputies were not able to arrest Michael Hilton Thursday because the warrant that was issued in L.A. County hadn't cleared in Orange County where Hilton lives.

She spoke with him and is giving him one last chance to appear in court.

"So I was actually able to speak with Mr. Hilton. I informed him if he showed up in court Friday and answered the questions we have for him and American Private Police Force that he or I could ask the judge to discharge the arrest warrant. I also told him if he did not show up that arrest warrant was going to go into the system and the sheriff's would be back to effect an arrest. I am cautiously optimistic that Michael Hilton will be in court Friday to appear."

KULR-8's Sarah Gravlee knocked on Hilton's door and found him home. He would not come out to talk to her, saying he had the flu and didn't want us to get sick. But, he did tell us he plans to appear in court Friday.

The Associated Press reported Hilton was planning to come back to Montana to build a training facility in Big Horn County. When our reporters asked him about that, he would not comment and dodged every attempt for a future interview.