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Julie Lawlor, who faces trial over allegations she operated the Kiddie Kollege daycare center in suburban Philadelphia knowing the former thermometer factory was contaminated with mercury, was last seen in Ireland by a tabloid newspaper reporter two months ago, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Sunday.

Lawlor's criminal record includes theft and forgery in Pennsylvania, and she is also wanted for embezzling $90,000 from a subsequent employer in North Carolina, the newspaper said.

"There are a lot of strange facts in this case, but I've never sued anyone before and had them disappear", Joseph Osefchen, an attorney representing parents of nearly 100 children in a class-action lawsuit, told the Inquirer.

One topic to be explored at the trial reportedly includes information that Lawlor was able to open the daycare in 2004 despite possessing a criminal record that included convictions for forging and falsifying records and writing bad checks.

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