Arthur Milnes
Northern News Services

NNSL (May 18/98) - Visitors to the North from down under have been left down and out after falling victim to an alleged fraud artist from the Yukon during their travels.

RCMP in Fort Providence arrested 28-year-old Leo John Lovesey on fraud-related charges Tuesday after four young Australian tourists flagged them down in the hamlet's coffee shop.

The quartet say they are out about $20,000 after the Yukoner offered them summer jobs in the Yukon if they moved North from Vancouver.

"We thought it sounded like a great way to see Canada with the job he promised us," said 21-year-old Asha Brown of Adelaide on Thursday. "He told us that everything is paid for and we were under the impression that it was."

Brown's three colleagues are all 23. Like her, she said, they all worked for upwards of a year or more to save for their North American adventure.

Now penniless, they were planning to leave the Deh Cho Thursday in hopes of getting home.

The group says Lovesey took their bank account and credit-card numbers, telling them he would need the information in order to deposit their cheques as quickly as possible.

According to Brown, the man's erratic behavior led one member of the group to contact their parents back home from the Big River Service Station near Fort Providence.

The phone call was made last week, Brown said, after an often terrifying ride from Vancouver that included stops in Yukon, Yellowknife and then Fort Providence. On the trip, the visitors began to fear for their safety.

Upon arrival in Providence, they learned that their credit cards were at the limit and their bank accounts empty.

"Our work visas, money, everything is gone down the toilet," Brown said.

Fort Providence RCMP Const. Clare Kines said there are several outstanding warrants out on the Yukon man from Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and Germany.

"We've learned not to trust anyone and, as a traveller, to be always watching your back," Brown said sadly. "I was planning to work in Canada for the summer but now I'm back to work in Australia for the winter."

On the plus side, Brown said that she and her friends owe a great deal to the Mounties in Fort Providence.

"There has been lot of generosity from them," she said, adding that Kines and his officers allowed them to pitch tent in the RCMP compound and have supplied food and friendliness. "We've learned that the police here are the best."

Lovesey is currently in custody in Hay River. Brown's report that the man tried to commit suicide shortly after his arrest could not be confirmed by press time.