Some 20 years ago, while working as operations manager at the Lafarge office in B.C., Joe Chatlain started to piece together faxes coming in from the western U.S.

The messages had nothing to do with the business in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island. They weren鈥檛 even for Lafarge but rather a man with no connection to the company, and they helped Chatlain catch a con artist.

Now, he鈥檚 captured his incredible story down on the page, publishing a book, The Illusive Highwayman, which recounts the case that he helped crack.

Jozsef Rezsofi, occasionally using an alias or two, spent the better part of 30 years as a grifter and a drifter who conned countless people in seven western U.S. states.

鈥淗e was a very intelligent person,鈥� says Chatlain, who now lives in the Nanaimo area.

For years, Rezsofi would wander the highways and look for help, saying he鈥檇 been mugged and his identification had been stolen. People would give him money, typically small amounts like $50 鈥� maybe a few hundred 鈥� or they鈥檇 pay for meals or hotels or buses, or take him in overnight. He said he had a business in Prince Rupert and a home in Sidney. He鈥檇 leave the same number for these Good Samaritans to get in touch later, once he was back safe and sound in Canada, or so they鈥檇 been led to believe.

That number turned out to be that of the local Lafarge office, and Chatlain started collecting the faxes coming in. Often, they鈥檇 be wishing Rezsofi well, hoping he got back safely.

鈥淣obody but me knew that this was actually a fraud and a scam,鈥� Chatlain says.

Rezsofi could spin a good story. He鈥檇 actually been in Canada, including B.C., after fleeing Hungary in 1957 following the revolution in the Soviet-run state. However, he was to be deported because of auto theft and skipped over the border to the U.S. There, he got married, had kids, got divorced, then started his life on the run probably in the late 1960s or early 1970s.

On the faxes, some people checked about getting their money back. One was a woman whose husband had cancer and was in bad need of funds, which was when Chatlain got serious about tracking down Rezsofi.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 what sparked me at that point in time,鈥� he says.

For a few years, he鈥檇 spent hours each week, going over correspondence, talking to victims, marking points on a map of the U.S. to estimate Rezsofi鈥檚 whereabouts based on where the faxes had been sent from and when they鈥檇 been sent.

Finally, in the spring of 2000, one of Rezsofi鈥檚 victims named Terry Churchill and local law enforcement in Montana managed to track the con-man using information provided by Chatlain. The con artist was arrested after a chase between Great Falls and Missoula, Mont. He did time behind bars in the U.S. and after his trial, for which Chatlain was subpoenaed as a witness, he was deported to Hungary. As a result, both Chatlain and Churchill received Vigilance Awards from Department of Justice officials in Montana.

Court records indicated Rezsofi had swindled a total of almost $5,000, but the authorities figured this was only a fraction. They don鈥檛 know how many people he bilked, Chatlain says, but they guess he could鈥檝e brought in hundreds of thousands of dollars, all tax free. The faxes sent to Chatlain鈥檚 office only covered a small portion.

鈥淭here would be hundreds more that wouldn鈥檛 have contacted me,鈥� he says.

By conning people out of relatively small amounts, Rezsofi almost had the perfect crime, one for which many victims wouldn鈥檛 even bother coming forward.

鈥淭he reason he was never caught is because he did small amounts,鈥� Chatlain says.

Rezsofi鈥檚 one mistake though was that fax machine in Courtenay. It not only helped Chatlain track him down, but it provided enough evidence of the scale of Rezsofi鈥檚 crimes for prosecutors to make a case.

For a couple of years there, Chatlain says his fax machine was the talk of the town in coffee shops around Courtenay. Chatlain spent a year after trying to sort out more information and decided to start working on a story. He wrote out a draft by hand and had an editor develop it.

鈥淚 decided I should write a book,鈥� he says.

The project fell by the wayside for years, but he recently decided to revive it and get it to print.

鈥淚鈥檓 getting to be the age I need to do something with that,鈥� he says.

Now he鈥檚 published it in book form, which he has made available on Amazon.ca and Amazon.com, and also as an e-book, a republished version of which should be ready by November.

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He鈥檚 also hoping to hold some book events and would like to see the story take on another life, perhaps as some kind of TV series or movie. He鈥檚 even hoping to draw some attention in the U.S., and maybe even get the word out to others there that had fallen prey to Rezsofi鈥檚 charms.

Through it all, Chatlain was motivated by a sense of doing right for the victims, all of whom opened their hearts and wallets to help out a man they believed to be in distress. Many thought Rezsofi would never be caught.

鈥淚鈥檇 been told and told and told he鈥檇 never be captured,鈥� Chatlain says.

Some even refused to believe this was all the work of a real person, but Chatlain held out hope all his work would pay off.

鈥淚 believed in what I was doing, and I just wouldn鈥檛 give up,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 knew he鈥檇 be caught.鈥�

mike.chouinard@comoxvalleyrecord.com
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