Spending spree mars biker-hooker marriage
Adrienne Tanner
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, August 27, 2005
From the beginning, the relationship between the prostitute and the former Bandido motorcycle gang member was based on deception.
She posed as a secretary, he as a Teamster working for the film industry.
Both concealed the more unsavoury elements of their pasts.
So it's not entirely surprising that within four years the couple, who are not named in divorce court documents, were fighting over the house, Harley, and other marital spoils.
Justice Ian Pitfield described the affair as a "rags to riches" relationship which began in 1998 when the couple met through an Internet dating service.
She billed herself as a secretary, the B.C. Supreme Court judgement states. "That was not the case."
"Raquel," as she was known to her clients, actually worked as a prostitute in a massage service.
Initially, her teamster boyfriend may not have known the truth about the woman he was courting, Pitfield wrote.
However, all became clear as the relationship progressed.
"Despite his efforts to portray himself otherwise during his testimony, the plaintiff was not naive. He was formerly a member of the Bandidos, a motorcycle club," the court judgement states.
He travelled with the Bandidos, a rival to the Hells Angels, for a time in the U.S. and had been charged with one drug-related offence in Texas.
An inheritance had left him comfortable enough to buy a home in Surrey and two motorcycles -- one a Harley-Davidson and the other a home-built model. His company had cash reserves of $70,000 and he had a $30,000 RRSP.
Not long after they met, the teamster helped his then-girlfriend move to an apartment on West Broadway where she and at least one colleague continued their massage business.
He soon tired of paying her rent.
She moved into his Surrey home where she continued to run her massage business, the court decision states.
They married in 1999.
It was a lucrative match for the woman who had left a string of creditors behind during her journey from Ontario to Alberta and finally B.C.
"The defendant (prostitute) can only be described as a good spender who used her husband's credit cards, she having none in her own name, and the company's bank account as sources of funds."
For Christmas in 1999, she spent more than $4,000 on stereo equipment and a big screen television as a gift to her husband, the court documents state."The cost was charged to his credit card."
The family's finances slid after they bought a 5,000-square-foot, $595,000 "replacement" home in Delta. Child care, housekeeping, landscaping and pool services gobbled up the RRSP soon after.
By March of 2001, the former biker was sleeping in a spare room and the marriage was clearly doomed.
His health failed and today, his sole income source is a disability pension.
That did not stop his estranged wife from demanding a 1993 Cadillac, the high-priced TV and a share of the house sale during the divorce.
The judge ruled against her final gold-digging gasp and awarded what little was left of the estate to the teamster. "The defendant pursued her personal interests to the financial detriment of the couple throughout the course of the marriage," he wrote.
The woman's "profligate spending" left him with a $100,000 tax bill and a debt to Canada Trust totalling $9,000, debts which far outweigh the remaining assets, Pitfield noted.
He ordered her interests in the family assets returned to the teamster and tossed out her claim for spousal support. The former biker was ordered to continue paying $192 per month in child support, money he must take from his long-term disability cheques.
Romantically, his ex-wife has moved on and spends much of her time with a new, unnamed male companion.
Adrienne Tanner
Vancouver Sun
Saturday, August 27, 2005
From the beginning, the relationship between the prostitute and the former Bandido motorcycle gang member was based on deception.
She posed as a secretary, he as a Teamster working for the film industry.
Both concealed the more unsavoury elements of their pasts.
So it's not entirely surprising that within four years the couple, who are not named in divorce court documents, were fighting over the house, Harley, and other marital spoils.
Justice Ian Pitfield described the affair as a "rags to riches" relationship which began in 1998 when the couple met through an Internet dating service.
She billed herself as a secretary, the B.C. Supreme Court judgement states. "That was not the case."
"Raquel," as she was known to her clients, actually worked as a prostitute in a massage service.
Initially, her teamster boyfriend may not have known the truth about the woman he was courting, Pitfield wrote.
However, all became clear as the relationship progressed.
"Despite his efforts to portray himself otherwise during his testimony, the plaintiff was not naive. He was formerly a member of the Bandidos, a motorcycle club," the court judgement states.
He travelled with the Bandidos, a rival to the Hells Angels, for a time in the U.S. and had been charged with one drug-related offence in Texas.
An inheritance had left him comfortable enough to buy a home in Surrey and two motorcycles -- one a Harley-Davidson and the other a home-built model. His company had cash reserves of $70,000 and he had a $30,000 RRSP.
Not long after they met, the teamster helped his then-girlfriend move to an apartment on West Broadway where she and at least one colleague continued their massage business.
He soon tired of paying her rent.
She moved into his Surrey home where she continued to run her massage business, the court decision states.
They married in 1999.
It was a lucrative match for the woman who had left a string of creditors behind during her journey from Ontario to Alberta and finally B.C.
"The defendant (prostitute) can only be described as a good spender who used her husband's credit cards, she having none in her own name, and the company's bank account as sources of funds."
For Christmas in 1999, she spent more than $4,000 on stereo equipment and a big screen television as a gift to her husband, the court documents state."The cost was charged to his credit card."
The family's finances slid after they bought a 5,000-square-foot, $595,000 "replacement" home in Delta. Child care, housekeeping, landscaping and pool services gobbled up the RRSP soon after.
By March of 2001, the former biker was sleeping in a spare room and the marriage was clearly doomed.
His health failed and today, his sole income source is a disability pension.
That did not stop his estranged wife from demanding a 1993 Cadillac, the high-priced TV and a share of the house sale during the divorce.
The judge ruled against her final gold-digging gasp and awarded what little was left of the estate to the teamster. "The defendant pursued her personal interests to the financial detriment of the couple throughout the course of the marriage," he wrote.
The woman's "profligate spending" left him with a $100,000 tax bill and a debt to Canada Trust totalling $9,000, debts which far outweigh the remaining assets, Pitfield noted.
He ordered her interests in the family assets returned to the teamster and tossed out her claim for spousal support. The former biker was ordered to continue paying $192 per month in child support, money he must take from his long-term disability cheques.
Romantically, his ex-wife has moved on and spends much of her time with a new, unnamed male companion.
mind you I think I'm doing much better than this fellow,,,much much better 
