No, I’m not going to have anything in this post about Richard Hatch. Instead, we’ll head to the Great White North (Canada) where an entrepreneur with a checkered past decided to try his hand at developing a Survivor show.
“David Martin” came up with the idea in 2004 of a back-country hike/race, with contestants going from Buttle Lake to Mount Washington (via Mount Albert Edward) in British Columbia. His race did get at least 29 contestants…and 29 individuals who had to be rescued by search and rescue teams. The report of the incident is rather terse:
10 Comox Valley and 18 Campbell River SAR members responded to rescue the participants of a Survivor Canada Hike on Mount Albert Edward. The hikers were apparently dropped off and were to complete a hike to Buttle Lake. The participants sustained numerous minor injuries and were not equipped to be out overnight. A total of 27 individuals were escorted out of the trail system by ground and another 2 were flown by helicopter to Raven Lodge where they received medical attention.
Needless to say, the show didn’t get picked up. But Mr. “Martin” did; it turns out he was really Ronald Morrison, wanted for skipping parole (on a fraud charge). He has served the remainder of that sentence.
Anyway, Mr. Morrison was accused this year by Canada Revenue Agency of filing false tax returns. According to Canada’s version of the IRS, Mr. Morrison used the names of individuals he had been in touch with and created returns for each of them. Amazingly enough, all of those returns had refunds. Not so amazingly, all of the money refunded made its way to Mr. Morrison’s bank accounts. And even less amazingly, the CRA discovered the tax fraud (sooner or later, the CRA would wonder why there were two returns for some individuals). Mr. Morrison was charged with 15 counts of claiming a false refund and two counts of forgery. He was being tried; this past week he pleaded guilty. It appears he’ll have another chance to visit a Canadian penitentiary.