Dangerous Driving: Robert Fotti

Robert Fotti: Robert Fotti POLICE / HANDOUT , according to Winnipeg Free Press. Fotti, now 64, and who on Tuesday finished a nine-month sentence in a Texas jail for a felony for tampering with a governmental record, could now be weeks away from beginning to serve that long delayed penalty. CBC Aftermath of Robert Fotti collision with a motorcycle. Timeline of a tragedy April 10, 1977: Gordon Hochman, 43, and his 17-year-old son, Stewart, were killed when the motorcycle they were on was struck by a van driven by Robert Nick Fotti, then 27, at Dublin Street and Border Avenue. Police later determined Fotti was driving 44 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour zone when he ran a red light. 1978: Fotti is acquitted by county court Judge B.R. Coleman, who ruled Fotti had "a momentary lapse" that wasn't grounds for a dangerous driving conviction. The acquittal was quashed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal later that year by a 4-1 ruling with Mr. Justice Roy Matas saying for the majority that Fotti had no reasonable explanation for not seeing the motorcyclists. 1979: The Supreme Court agrees with the Manitoba Court of Appeal decision. 1980: The Court of Appeal sentences Fotti to nine months in jail for dangerous driving. Fotti is not in court and his lawyer, Ray Flett, did not explain why he wasn't there. It was later learned Fotti had fled to the United States, which did not allow extradition for dangerous-driving offences. Matas, noting Fotti had a record of driving offences including disobeying stop signs and traffic lights, said punishment and deterrence were necessary. Mr. Justice Joseph O'Sullivan, in disagreeing, said ordinary citizens who accidentally drive through red lights don't think it is an offence deserving jail and added he would have imposed a substantial fine plus probation. The maximum penalty is two years. 1990: CBC reporters locate Fotti living in Texas under a new name, Robert Fox. Feb. 1992: Fotti contacts Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair to say he left Canada because of death threats he received in the wake of the fatal collision and court cases. "I lost a wife, my family, my business, my country. Everything that mattered. I spent a decade as an illegal alien, looking over my shoulder." 2008: Media reports say Fotti is arrested and charged with possessing drugs and controlled substances after more than 10,000 illegal pills were found in his House of Israel complex in Jacksonville, Texas. Later, Fotti was also charged with allegedly practising law without a licence while police also found information that linked the group to terrorist organizations, including fliers calling the Oklahoma City bombers patriots. July 30, 2013: Fotti completes his nine-month sentence for felony for tampering with a governmental record. He is placed in custody by American immigration authorities awaiting an immigration hearing. Enlarge Image Thirty-three years ago, Robert Nick Fotti failed to show up in court to learn he was sentenced to nine months in jail for dangerous driving after the death of a Winnipeg man and his 17-year-old son on a motorcycle. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.