by Jennifer Pritchett
Northern News Services

NNSL (June 11/97) - The man who ran the Gold Range poker room is now facing charges of possession of child pornography and paying for sex with a minor.

The new charges are in addition to sexual assault on a girl under 14, gambling and weapons charges police laid following a raid at his Gold Range home May 30.

Police seized 1,000 videotapes, hundreds of pictures of nude women, fourteen handguns and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Two Mounties are working 10-hour days viewing the videotapes, which may be used as evidence against Lee in a court case. Another officer is working part-time identifying the females in the videos and photos.

Staff Sgt. Dave Grundy said police have only identified one female as a minor, but the investigation into the tapes is expected to continue for the next month.

Mystified by charges

Lee, who said he doesn't understand why the police shut down the "Five Aces Social Club," told Yellowknifer that city hall officials told him in 1989 that he didn't need a business licence to gamble.

The poker room was widely known in the NWT by everybody from MLAs and cabinet ministers to First Nation chiefs and prominent business people, many of whom have gambled there, he maintained.

"Gambling going on for so long implies it's legal," said Lee. "After government meetings, it's a place to relax -- if nobody came, there would be no games."

Lee said he didn't make a profit from the gaming house, operating it as only a social gathering for people to come and enjoy.

"It's not Monte Carlo or Las Vegas," he said. "I did nothing wrong -- I don't deserve time in jail -- maybe a small fine for a mistake."

Lee, whose father worked as a detective in China and whose mother was a nurse, came to Canada from Hong Kong when he was 15. Living in Vancouver, Lee became a jack-of-all-trades, mostly working as a cook.

In 1970, he moved to Yellowknife, where he worked at Giant Mine as a miner and in the lab, as well as a cook at Con Mine. Between 1983 and 1988, he was assistant manager of the Gold Range cafe, and then worked briefly at Corner Mart.

Now 61, Lee said he's retired and lives off his savings.

The investigation continues and police said they expect to lay more charges.