Mike on Crime

by Mike McIntyre

  Al Lesko felt like he’d gone from hero to zero. Three years ago, he was given a commendation by the city of Winnipeg for playing a key role in helping police nab three armed bank robbers, who later pleaded guilty to their crime. In October 1999, Al Lesko was driving a city van when he spotted a trio of suspects fleeing a bank robbery in downtown Winnipeg. He followed the getaway vehicle and called police, who arrested two men and a woman within minutes. Police also recovered stolen money and a handgun used in the holdup.

  But now Lesko was deemed an unreliable witness filled with “jealousy and resentment” as his testimony was dismissed in the high-profile Lotto 6/49 trial. The stinging words from Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sid Schwartz had left a bad taste in the mouths of Lesko and his family, who believed his credibility had been tarnished unfairly in a “smear” campaign.

  Al Lesko was a longtime co-worker of Larry Tessier who testified that he overheard Larry telling his mother “Don’t tell Cora” during a phone conversation at work the morning after she’d won the lottery. Lesko’s motives came under attack during cross-examination from the Tessiers’ lawyer. John Scurfield accused Lesko of feeling slighted by his friend, and cited comments from some other co-workers who said all Larry brought them after winning the lottery was “a box of doughnuts.” The judge also cited Lesko’s apparent unwillingness to speak with the Tessiers’ lawyers.

  Dianne Lesko said they gave statements to a private investigator hired by the family, and refused on one occasion to speak by telephone with a woman claiming to be one of their lawyers. “If someone would have had the decency to come to the door with identification, we would have been happy to speak to anyone.”

  She said her husband never wanted to get involved in the lottery case to begin with because of his longtime friendship with Larry Tessier. “It was I who went behind my husband’s back to advise a lawyer what Al had heard. Al was furious with me and was not going to co-operate. After what has happened, I can see why. It does no good to tell the truth, and if you don’t know how to play the game you might just as well crawl in a hole and remain ignorant to everything around you,” she said. Lesko said the judgment had damaged her husband’s good name and reputation. “My husband has gone through hell for this, and I feel like we’ve been victimized here.”

  SATURDAY APRIL 6, 2002

  Life had gone on. Nilo Macatula spent much of the day cleaning the house. His wife, Cora, completed yet another 60-hour work week by tending to the needs of residents at the convalescent home. The couple’s two children, Mac and Nikki, juggled homework, sports practice and music lessons, with frequent stops to the baskets of Easter chocolates still piled up in the family’s modest Arlington Street bungalow. The following morning, they planned to make their weekly trek down the street for Sunday services at St. Edward’s Church. It appeared the Macatulas weren’t wasting any time wondering what could have been or feeling sorry for themselves.

  Nilo seemed to have adjusted nicely to his role as homemaker since being laid off last fall from his night auditor’s job at the Lombard Hotel. It’s a duty he accepted with pride, while Cora was working hard during her full-time weekday job as a home-care worker, and her part-time weekend work at the convalescent home. “I love to work, ever since I was young. It’s in my system. I don’t feel tired, and I enjoy my time with my clients,” said Cora, who doubted even becoming a millionaire would have stopped her from clocking in. “I have to balance my time between my clients and my family, but they come first, especially my children,” she said.

  The Macatulas, who had no other close family members in Canada but a tight-knit group of friends in the city, didn’t like pondering if life would be any different had there been a different verdict. “Definitely [winning the case] would have changed our lives. It would have changed things financially, but not socially. Presents can’t buy friends,” said Nilo.

  They insisted they never planned how they would spend their newfound riches, had Schwartz ruled in their favour. There were no thoughts of replacing the home they’d spent the last 10 years in since coming to Canada from the Philippines, and no big trips on the horizon. “It’s nice to have dreams, everybody has dreams. But to say, ‘I want this, I want that’ ... it’s like the saying goes, until you cross the bridge, you can’t say you’re safe,” said Nilo. “Like we told the kids, just wait and see, you never know what happens.”

  The money likely would have been used to ensure a bright future for the couple’s children. Mac, 15, was in Grade 10 at St. Boniface Diocesan High School. Already taller than his dad at 5-10, he was a talented basketball player with dreams of being a professional athlete. Nikki, 7, was in Grade 1 at Holy Cross School and a budding performer. She was taking vocal lessons and was involved in theatre and dance. The Macatulas said putting their children in private school was a top priority, despite the added expense and burden on themselves. “We want them to have the best education they can have. That’s the foundation of their life,” said Nilo. “We have to maintain to keep things better for the kids.”

  The family took offence to the characterization by the Tessiers’ lawyer that financial woes provided a motive for making a false claim on the ticket. “I cannot say we have the good life, but we’re getting by,” said Nilo. “Everyone has mortgages and loans and payments. We’re no different.”

  The family members said they’d been overwhelmed by the support they’d received, both from the local Filipino community and from complete strangers who had phoned their home since their lawsuit became public. The calls had intensified since the verdict, said Nilo, with many people expressing their condolences. “People were calling us before, saying, ‘We’re praying for you and good luck.’ It seems the whole community is supporting us,” he said.

  One thing the disappointing decision hadn’t stopped was their love of the lottery. The Macatulas continued to play Lotto 6/49 and Super 7 every week, believing lightning could strike twice. “We always play, because you never know. It doesn’t hurt to try. And if you don’t buy, you have no chance,” said Nilo.

  MONDAY APRIL 15, 2002

  It was a very interesting document that had never seen the legal light of day. The Queen’s Bench judge who presided over the high-profile case and ruled against Corazon Macatula was neither aware of, nor allowed to consider, a May 2000 polygraph examination. Canadian courts had deemed polygraph tests to be scientifically unreliable and would not recognize the results as evidence in any case. And so test results that indicated Macatula was truthful when she said she and Jean Tessier jointly purchased the winning ticket were not presented at the trial.

  Polygraph tests are often used by police and lawyers as investigative tools and bargaining chips, as was the case with Macatula, her lawyer, Bill Olson, confirmed. He said polygraph tests had been found scientifically reliable about 75 to 80 per cent of the time, which was not sufficient for the courts. John Scurfield, the lawyer representing the Tessier family, called polygraph tests “bogus science.” “They have never been ruled as being scientifically valid,” he said.

  Details of the polygraph test were contained in a voluminous Queen’s Bench file and formed the basis for a pretrial motion. Lorne Huff, who operated Huff Investigative and Polygraph Services in Winnipeg examined Macatula two months after the Tessiers announced their lottery win. He asked her a series of questions, but highlighted three he deemed relevant to the case in his report.

  Huff’s questions, and Macatula’s answers, were:

  Are you truthful when you say you had an agreement with Jean Tessier to share in Lotto 6/49 winnings? Yes.

  Are you truthful when you say you contributed to the purchase of Lotto 6/49 tickets with Jean Tessier? Yes.

  Are you truthful when you say Jean Tessier paid you $2.50 for her share of the Lotto 6/49 ticket for the March 15 draw? Yes.

  In his report, Huff found the test to be inconclusive on the first question, but it suggested she was t
ruthful on the final two. He said Macatula explained the inconclusive result, saying “she feels the agreement was not discussed too much and should have been in writing.”

  MONDAY MARCH 3, 2003

  The Tessier family would get to keep their riches by the absolute slimmest of margins. In a 2-1 verdict, the Manitoba Court of Appeal refused to order a new trial in the civil court battle over $11.4 million.

  “My clients are tremendously relieved and extremely excited,” lawyer Robert Tapper said after informing the Tessier family the cash was still theirs to keep. He had taken over the case after his colleague, John Scurfield, was appointed as a judge with the Court of Queen’s Bench.

  The Macatula’s took the news in stride. “This is very disappointing. We have hoped that with three judges they might be more open-minded. I’m just not sure what to say. This is somewhat draining,” Nilo Macatula said after learning of the decision. “We thought our chances were always 50-50. For some reason, it just didn’t happen.” Macatula said the appeal court ruled the case came down to a credibility issue and they couldn’t interfere with the finding of the trial judge.

  Tapper said the appeal court judges only disagreed on the application of the credibility test to the evidence, and not on a major point of law. “There is no way the Supreme Court of Canada is likely to hear this case,” he said.

  TUESDAY MARCH 4, 2003

  There was one final bombshell to drop. Corazon and Nilo Macatula had turned their backs on a $2-million offer by the Tessier family to halt their high-profile case and settle out of court. The proposed settlement, which was outlined in a letter sent to their lawyer, came just one week before their civil court trial began in November 2001. It was only becoming a matter of public record now, splashed across the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press.

  “If we were fighting for the money, people would say how could you refuse? But we were fighting for principle, for what was rightfully ours,” Nilo Macatula said from the family’s Arlington Street home. “Do you offer that kind of money if you’re not guilty?” asked Cora Macatula.

  The Macatulas said they submitted a counter-offer of 75 per cent of their alleged $5.7-million stake in the winning ticket, but it was refused. The settlement proposal followed an earlier offer of $100,000 in June 2000, before a lawsuit was even filed. The Macatulas promptly turned it down. A third offer of $100,000 was made last April by the Tessiers, after the Macatulas filed an appeal of Schwartz’s decision. Again, they turned it down.

  Lawyer Robert Tapper questioned the Macatulas’ motives for releasing information about the settlement proposals. “This is a stunning development. This is a pitiful and spiteful thing. And my goodness, they should have taken the offer,” he said. Tapper said he would research the law to determine if the Tessiers had any legal recourse against the Macatulas for releasing “private and confidential” information. He said the public would be wrong to view the offers as an admission of guilt by the Tessiers. He believed the Macatulas were simply trying to “embarrass” them after losing their case. “When you walk into a courtroom, anything can happen. Emotions aside, sometimes you have to make a business decision to deal with a lawsuit and you make an offer,” said Tapper. “You can believe in the righteousness of your position, but it’s a crapshoot when you go into court.”

  The Macatulas said the justice system had clearly failed them. Although Justice Charles Huband ruled a new trial should be ordered, two other judges overruled him in the split decision.

  “He was the senior judge. Why couldn’t they have seen things his way?” asked Nilo Macatula.

  Many people naturally asked me which side I believed while covering this dispute. My answer was always the same: The Macatulas.

  This feeling was cemented by the revelation that they walked away from the $2 million offer. From my perspective, if they knew they were in the wrong and simply after the Tessier’s money, why wouldn’t they have gladly accepted the proposed settlement? After all, that kind of cash would be life-changing for anyone, especially the Macatula family. But the fact they turned it down told me one thing. This was a matter of principle to them. They firmly believed they had been wronged. And they were going to fight for what they believed was rightfully theirs. In hindsight, it probably wasn’t a wise strategy. They lost the legal battle and ended up with nothing. The Supreme Court ultimately rejected hearing the case.

  Nilo Macatula ended up filing for bankruptcy in 2004. As for the Tessier family, they never did agree to any post-verdict interviews, despite countless attempts by myself and other reporters over the years. Jean Tessier passed away in 2007. Several other bigger lottery prizes have been awarded in Manitoba since. But none have attracted the kind of controversy that this one did.

  CHAPTER 12

  THE MASTER MANIPULATOR

  It’s a stunning number: More than 1,000 indigenous women were killed in Canada between 1980 and 2012. More than 100 of those cases remain unsolved. The reality is that there are countless killers who are currently walking the streets, no doubt feeling like they are untouchable. Shawn Lamb certainly fell into that category. He absolutely thought he would get away with his crimes. But a combination of factors—some luck, good timing, a controversial police tactic and Lamb’s own big mouth—proved to be his undoing.

  I followed this case as close as any I’ve covered in my career, due largely to the fact Lamb began calling me frequently from jail following his release. For whatever reason, I became his personal sounding board. Those lengthy conversations would reveal his true colours.

  MAY 2010

  “It’s come true, one of my worst nightmares. I’m old and in jail.”

  Shawn Lamb stood before the judge in a scene that was all-too-familiar. The 50-year-old drifter and career criminal had just pleaded guilty to 15 more charges, increasing his total to more than 100 in a 30-year span. Like always, Lamb jumped at the opportunity all criminals were given to speak. He had plenty to say.

  Lamb described how he was in the process of writing a revealing tell-all book about his troubled past, claiming he wanted to help steer vulnerable individuals away from making the same mistakes he’d made. “The elements-for-life concept is something I’ve embraced,” Lamb said, in explaining the working title of his inspirational book. His lawyer then handed a sample of his writings to the court clerk, who passed them on to provincial court Judge Linda Giesbrecht and marked them as an exhibit.

  “I’m just a coward pretending not to be afraid, sounding confident, powerful looking bold and fearsome as if I could rip off the heads of my opponents,” Lamb wrote. “But in my belly, the wee bottom of my little belly, is a boy still afraid, feeling alone, unknown if what he has will be enough to win, to survive.”

  Lamb said he’d been working closely with native elders and a chaplain behind bars to come up with a blueprint for success that he, and others, would follow. “I am now in control of what I do, because I now know what it is that made me do the things I did do,” Lamb said. “I don’t want to do it anymore. I don’t want to hurt anybody anymore. I want to take responsibility for what I’ve done, to use my writing skills in a positive way to help myself and others in the future.”

  Lamb was sentenced to 19 months in jail, in addition to nearly 14 months of time already served, plus three years of supervised probation. His crimes included mugging a young mother of her purse, threatening to stab another man for his beer, stealing a car and passing numerous bad cheques. He was on a conditional sentence at the time for a similar robbery in which he attacked a young mother for her bank card, flipping over a stroller carrying the victim’s baby.

  Lamb described how all his previous offences had been committed to help feed a drug and alcohol addiction he’d been fighting since the age of nine—when his adoptive parents first started forcing him to play the role of a “bartender” while they entertained other drunken guests in their home.

  Giesbrecht told Lamb s
he was impressed by his honesty—and hopeful he had finally turned a corner following many previous attempts that ended with him back in jail. “You’re clearly an intelligent, well-spoken person. You have a gift in your writing and your speaking. It’s really too bad you’ve wasted so many years of the potential that you had. I really hope you’re sincere. You appear to be sincere, you appear to be genuine,” said Giesbrecht. “You seem to have very good insight into your past behaviour. If you don’t achieve what you hope to achieve when you get out next time, I think you’ve burned your bridges. Ultimately it is your choice.”

  Giesbrecht also expressed sympathy after hearing of Lamb’s upbringing, which would be the focus of much of his writing. “I appreciate you had a bad childhood and didn’t have the benefits a child should have,” said Giesbrecht.

  He was born as Darryl Dokis on a First Nation near Sarnia, Ontario, to a 17-year-old single mother. He told court he was “ripped” away by social services at the age of 2 1/2 as part of the “60s scoop,” taken from his First Nation community and put in foster care for a year before being sent to live with an adoptive white family near Sarnia.

  “Once upon a time there was born a baby boy, a little Indian boy as sweet and fat-cheeked and gifted by the Creator as any baby anywhere. He was born innocent, as innocent as a puppy. An innocent baby deserves not to be torn apart from its mother,” Lamb wrote. “Now take a puppy, when he comes up to you, wanting you to pick him up and love him. If you kick that innocent puppy instead, and when he’s hungry you throw him out into the cold without food, and when he wants to be warm and safe you let the vicious neighbourhood dogs rip and tear at him. Well, what about that puppy? How will that innocent puppy grow up?”

  Lamb admitted to harbouring years of pent-up anger over what he says were years of neglect and abuse at the hands of several important women in his life. Lamb claimed his now-deceased foster mother sexually and physically abused him while also introducing him to alcohol when he was just nine. He made similar claims against his now-estranged stepsister, saying she would play “doctor” with him as a young child and molest him.