Latest news with #DarvinDeJesusTaboada
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Florida man charged in 1998 crash that killed 2 arrested in Toronto
A man charged in a 1998 Christmas Day car crash in Orlando that killed two people has been arrested in Toronto after evading police south of the border for more than 20 years. Toronto police confirmed to CTV News Toronto that former Orlando resident Patrick Lutts Jr. was taken into custody by the TPS Fugitive Squad on Feb. 26 on the strength of an arrest warrant issued under the Canadian Extradition Act. On Dec. 25, 1998, court documents state that the 51-year-old was driving his car in Orlando at approximately 5:50 a.m. after a night of drinking with friends. As Lutts attempted to make a left turn, the documents allege that he struck a vehicle that was being driven by Nancy Lopez and carrying Darvin J. DeJesus-Taboada. Both were unrestrained at the time of impact and ejected from the vehicle. Court documents indicate they both suffered fatal head injuries following the crash. A passing car that was attempting to avoid the debris then struck Lutts and Lopez as he tried to 'render aide' to her, according to an extradition application filed in Ontario Superior Court. It is alleged that Lutts had a blood-alcohol level of .272 at the time of his arrest, a charging affidavit notes. Lutts was charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter on March 23, 1999 and a warrant was issued for his arrest. However, U.S. authorities couldn't locate him and he remained at large until June 27, 2002 when he was arrested in Manchester, Connecticut. He was extradited back to Florida and pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter charges. The Texas-born defendant posted a US$5,000 bail bond and was scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 1, 2003. However, Lutts failed to attend the court date, and his bond was forfeited, court records show. While it's unclear how and when Lutts made his way into Canada, the extradition application suggests that he attempted to cross the border through Niagara Falls on Sept. 29, 2003 -- two days before his trial in Orlando -- but was turned away. Canada Border Services Agency has no record of Lutts ever entering Canada, the court documents show. In the court filing, a Toronto detective said that Lutts' whereabouts remained unknown until an anonymous tip was received in November 2023. From there, police were able to determine that he was living in the city's Church and Wellesley neighbourhood and going by the alias 'Pat Lighthelp.' On Wednesday morning, Lutts, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, attended a brief court appearance in Toronto via video from a local detention centre. CTV News Toronto has reached out to office of the state prosecutor in Florida for more information but has not received a response.
CTV News
28-05-2025
- General
- CTV News
Florida man charged in 1998 crash that killed 2 arrested in Toronto
A man charged in a 1998 Christmas Day car crash in Orlando that killed two people has been arrested in Toronto after evading police south of the border for more than 20 years. Toronto police confirmed to CTV News Toronto that former Orlando resident Patrick Lutts Jr. was taken into custody by the TPS Fugitive Squad on Feb. 26 on the strength of an arrest warrant issued under the Canadian Extradition Act. On Dec. 25, 1998, court documents state that Lutts was driving his car in Orlando at approximately 5:50 a.m. after a night of drinking with friends. As Lutts attempted to make a left turn, the documents allege that he struck a vehicle that was being driven by Nancy Lopez and carrying Darvin J. DeJesus-Taboada. Both were unrestrained at the time of impact and ejected from the vehicle. Court documents indicate they both suffered fatal head injuries following the crash. It is alleged that Lutts had a blood-alcohol level of .272 at the time of his arrest, a charging affidavit notes. He was charged with two counts of DUI manslaughter. He pleaded not guilty and posted a $5,000 bail bond and was scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 1, 2003. However, Lutts failed to attend the court date, and his bond was forfeited, court records show. It's unclear how and when Lutts made his way into Canada, as well as what led Toronto police to his whereabouts. CTV News Toronto has reached out to office of the state prosecutor in Florida for more information but has not received a response. On Wednesday morning, Lutts, dressed in an orange jumpsuit, attended a brief court appearance in Toronto via video from a local detention centre. CTV News Toronto has requested comment from Lutts' lawyer.
CBC
15-05-2025
- CBC
U.S. fugitive arrested in Toronto led double life as 'psychic'
A U.S. fugitive on the run from authorities in Florida for more than two decades has been arrested in Toronto after living in the city — out in the open — for years, CBC News has learned. Patrick Lutts Jr. faces manslaughter charges stemming from a drunk-driving crash that killed two teens in Orlando on Christmas Day 1998. Lutts, 51, vanished after skipping a plea hearing in 2003, only to later re-emerge in Toronto as a self-styled psychic and host of a local bar's monthly trivia night, according to court records and online posts reviewed by CBC. Lutts' online presence in recent years paints the picture of a man with a busy social life. A horror movie aficionado, he enjoyed ski trips, rock concerts and frequent drinks with friends. There's no sign his acquaintances in Toronto knew anything about his status as a wanted man, or the early-morning crash that killed 19-year-old Nancy Lopez and her boyfriend Darvin Javier DeJesus-Taboada, 18. According to investigators, the couple were thrown several metres when Lutts — with a "strong odor of alcohol coming from his breath" after a night of drinking — slammed his pickup truck into their vehicle. Lutts was found to have had a blood-alcohol level of 0.272 — more than three times the legal limit. "He didn't even call to apologize or to say I'm sorry," Lopez's mother Nelida Leon told Orlando's WFTV in 2014. The family was clinging to hope that Lutts would one day be found. "If he doesn't get justice here," Leon said at the time, "God's going to punish this guy." Toronto police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer confirmed the agency's fugitive squad arrested Lutts on Feb. 26 "on the strength of an arrest warrant issued under the Canadian Extradition Act." He's scheduled to appear in a downtown court later this month. Anonymous tips led police to fugitive An anonymous tip to a Crime Stoppers-type service in Florida in November 2023 first led authorities to suspect Lutts may be in Canada, according to a summary of state prosecutors' evidence in the case, filed in Ontario Superior Court as part of extradition proceedings. Lutts was placed under surveillance and police determined he was living in a high-rise apartment building in Toronto's Church and Wellesley area. It's unclear how – or when – Lutts came to Canada. According to Ontario court files, he has no legal status in the country and the Canada Border Services Agency has no record of his entry. Lutts tried to cross the border from New York to Niagara Falls, Ont., on Sept. 29, 2003 — two days before a key court hearing — but was turned away due to the criminal charges in Florida, according to a police affidavit. A Toronto resident with Lutts' name appears on a list of participants in a local 10-kilometre run in May 2005, suggesting Lutts may have settled in the city by then, while openly using his real name. Florida authorities had already been on the lookout for him for a year and a half. In recent years, Lutts appears to have avoided using his real name online. He instead went by the alias Pat Lighthelp, including on LifeReader, a platform for "psychic readings." Lutts' public profile shows he charged $4.50 US per minute to chat with clients and provide relationship help and life coaching. "As an empathic and intuitive psychic reader," Lutts wrote, "I specialize in providing direct insight and clarity to matters of the heart, particularly when it comes to love and relationships." Once a month, Lutts co-hosted a popular horror-themed trivia night at a bar in Toronto's 2SLGBTQ+ neighbourhood and frequently promoted the event on Facebook. Lutts evaded police before Lutts has a history of evading arrest. By the time Florida prosecutors laid DUI manslaughter charges against him for the 1998 incident, Lutts was already nowhere to be found. He surfaced again in 2002 after authorities said he was involved in another impaired-driving crash in Connecticut, according to court files. Lutts was arrested and sent back to Florida, where he posted a $5,000 US bond and was released from custody. Public records show Lutts failed to appear for a plea hearing scheduled for Oct. 1, 2003 and remained on the lam until his recent arrest in Toronto. "Our office is actively working on extraditing Patrick Lutts back to Florida," a spokesperson for state attorney Monique H. Worrell said in a brief email to CBC. Canada's Justice Department, which handles extradition requests, declined to comment on the case. A Florida-based lawyer who previously represented Lutts did not respond to requests for comment.
