One thing about the incident was the victims got to see a lot of western Canada. They were paying for the trip without realizing it but they did go on a trip. As they traveled around seeing the sites, they stayed in a lot of hotels. Leo would check them in, and pay using the cards. Eventually they saw some of BC, then moved on to Alberta, and then they turned north and came up to the NWT… which brings us back to the start of the story.
It also illustrates some of the difficulties in prosecuting this type of crime, offences are spread over several jurisdictions (in this case BC, Alberta and the NWT, not to mention other provinces where there were warrants), within those jurisdictions there was evidence in many different detachment areas, several agencies have to be coordinated and some convinced that the matter would be worth sending witnesses to one location should there be a trial. In addition some witnesses would have to literally be brought from half way around the world if the matter went to trial down the road.
In the end, it didn’t matter as Leo plead guilty to many of the charges, but he had one more “con” up his sleeve before that (or perhaps two). With Leo tucked away in our cells we began doing the leg work and the paper work to get the file ready. There was a lot to do, and we were out doing some of it, when we got a call from our guard to return to cells as there was a problem. When we walked in the guard rather sheepishly told us that Leo had convinced him to give him a bottle of pills that he had. Leo had convinced the guard that rather than be bothered having to give him the pills at what ever interval they were prescribed for, he could give him the entire bottle and Leo would look after taking them as needed. A short time later he showed the guard the empty pill bottle and told him he had taken them all in a suicide attempt.
Personally I think the pill taking was just another con, an attempt for either sympathy or escape, but with no evidence otherwise we headed off to the Nursing Station for treatment, and Leo’s eventual medivac to the Hospital in Hay River where he remained under observation (and under guard) for a couple of days until he appeared in court. After his guilty plea to many of the charges, he received a short period of incarceration. To his credit, pleading out on the charges saved us a lot of work and an expensive trial.
And as for our four young tourists/victims, they found themselves destitute and in the Northwest Territories. Fortunately there was a tent that had been bought at the start of the trip, and the four camped in my yard, using our shower and facilities. We fed them and occasionally entertained them as they phoned home and made the arrangements to get from Vancouver back to the land of Aus. As for getting them to Vancouver, it took a little convincing but we managed to convince the rental company that the four were victims, and that it would be better for everyone (and cheaper for the rental company) to let them drive the (now reported) stolen 4 Runner back to Vancouver. I’m still in occasional contact with one of them.
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i was just wondering if this story is 100% true? and if you could describe to me what he looks like…
Yes the post is true. It is unimportant if this is the same person (seeing as you’re asking for a description). If you are being scammed report it to the police. If you are worried about being scammed in the future arm yourself with a healthy dose of skepticism.