Christine Hale pictured with ex=partner Van Buskirk,, who is currently wanted by police. Photo Facebook
A Colwood (near Victoria) mother has had to declare bankruptcy after her former partner duped her out of $100,000.
Christine Hale said she thought she was paying for the man’s legal fees to deal with a criminal charge, but it turned out the money was going directly into his bank account.
In December 2015, Hale reconnected with the father of her firstborn child. About a year later, he started asking for money to defend himself against a fraud charge.
Hale was transferring thousands of dollars, presumably to the man’s lawyer, and also paying for car rentals and hotel rooms in Campbell River when her former partner claimed to have a court appearance.
In April 2017, Hale found out the whole thing was a ruse. Her former partner’s legal fees were covered by legal aid.
“I was under the impression that I was paying for his legal defence,” said Hale, a mother of three who works as a pharmacy technician. “I was transferring money to an email account, but it was all going to him.”
At this point, Hale estimated she was out $60,000, which drained her inheritance and led her to run up massive debts on credit cards and credit lines.
She reported the fraud to West Shore RCMP, which started an investigation.
But the requests for money continued.
Hale began receiving threatening text messages from unknown numbers. The person said he was in the Nortenos gang, to which her partner owed money.
The person threatened to cut off the man’s ears or burn him alive if Hale didn’t pay his drug debts.
“They said they knew where I lived, where my children went to school, where I worked,” she said.
Hale’s partner also begged her to bail him out.
“He told me all kinds of things like they were going to torture him if I didn’t give them money. They told me they were going to murder someone and he would be framed for it.”
Despite her gut instinct, she gave him money, again and again.
“I kept taking out loans and I kept paying any way I could because I was worried my kids would be hurt or I would be hurt,” she said.
Hale estimates she gave him another $40,000. She cashed out her registered education savings plan and got a second job as a pharmacy technician. That left her 16-year-old son to look after her two younger children while she was at work. Hale eventually declared bankruptcy.
Now Hale suspects that the gang wasn’t real and it was another ploy to fleece money from her.
“It started out as fraud and it ended more as extortion,” she said.
Steven Van Buskirk is charged with fraud over $5,000 for offences committed against Hale in Colwood between November 2016 and March 2017, and with extortion.
Van Buskirk is also charged with breach of probation for allegedly contacting Hale in violation of a no-contact order.
West Shore RCMP spokesman Const. Matt Baker confirmed there is an investigation into Van Buskirk and that authorities are looking for him.
“Currently there is a warrant for his arrest,” Baker said.
He said he can’t comment further because the file is in the hands of B.C. Crown prosecutors.
When reached through Facebook, Van Buskirk declined to comment on the allegations, but said he planned to turn himself in.
Hale said she’s distraught at losing so much money and wants to share her story so that no one else is victimized.
kderosa@timescolonist.com
