by Ian Elliot
Northern News Services

NNSL (Dec 10/97) - Already facing trial on more than 30 sex, gun and gambling offences, former poker baron Wing Lee, 61, has been charged with income tax evasion.

Lee, who ran a poker room in the Gold Range Hotel for several years until an RCMP raid in May closed it down, was charged last week with failing to file income tax returns between 1994 and 1997. A number of charges relating to illegal gambling, sex with underage girls, prostitution and firearms possession have been sent ahead for trial.

He will get a chance to answer the latest round of charges on Friday, when he is back in court for what could be the final instalment of his long-running preliminary hearing. The hearing began in August and has required four court sessions due to the number of charges involved.

Lee's most recent court appearance was Nov. 5, when the decision to drop or pursue 11 sex-related charges was put over for a month to give prosecutors time to locate two witnesses who failed to appear at that time.

Lee has been in custody since the May raid of rooms he rented at the Gold Range. Police say at that time they seized more than 1,000 videotapes and hundreds of photographs, some of them featuring nude girls under the age of 16, in addition to gambling paraphernalia and guns, which police say were not safely stored.

A trial date will be set after the preliminary hearings are complete. Crown prosecutor Mark Scrivens said this week that because of the number of charges, there will probably be two separate trials. One will deal with the gambling and firearm allegations and another with the sex charges.

The latter trial is expected to be lengthy and may not take place until the fall of 1998, while the other will probably be held first and could take place in the spring.

A publication ban has been placed on evidence presented at the preliminary hearing.