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Who can you trust? Ex-lawyer's gifts left recipients ~ a" little confused , By PAUL LEGALL The Spectator IF ANYTHlNG, Albin Rogala's 19% Christmas offering was more elaborate than in previous years Apart from the usual poirrset- tias, pine boughs and hollies, there wastheaddedtouchofasmall "choc-choc" train. Ever since the ement arrived on his doorstep, Herman Wagensveld has been scratching his head over the significance of the "choo-choo" train. 1 But as far as he's concerned, the Yuletide ., gesture lost its i meaning a few days earlier " when Rogala's $42,000 cheque bounced The cheque was to have covered the principal and in- terest on $40,000 Mr. Wagersveld and his wife Nellie had given Ro- gala to invest in bridge financing a few months earlier. The Christmas offering paled even more a few months later when the Ancaster couple learned Rogala still owed $177 to the Stoney Creek florist who pre pared the arrangement By that time, the Wagensvelrb had learned they were among about two dozen investors who were bilked of more than 51.7 mil- lion in the bridge financing scam. And it was small consolation to know they were part of an exclu- sive club, which included former Stoney Creek newspaper pub~ lisher Roger Brabant, who lost $210,000, real estate developer and p 've Tiger-Cat owner Walter Galdenzi, who was out $140,000, and former Hamilton- Wentworth regional chairman Bill Sears, who lost $34,000. The losers also included a char- tered accountant, a retired build- ing contractor, a number of small businemnen, a school trustee, a restaurant owner, a realmr and a small number of profonal investors Like a number of other victims, Mr. Wagersveld, who had known Rogala for about 10 years, asumed he was the only person involved in the bridge financing. Mr. Wagensveld, 54, said he got involved with the Stoney Creek real estate lawyer about five years ago after he sold his chick- en farm in Binbrook "He would arrange short-term loans for people who had bought a house and couldn't sell their own I've invated up to $65,000 with himandheusuallyofferedlilto 14 per cent interest with a bonus oflto2percent,"heexplained Each transaction was set out in a letter bearing Rogala's office letterhead Mr. Wagensveld had no contact with and little or no knowledge of the other parties Until the last loan, which was arranged in the summer of 1988, there seemed little reason to con-- cern himself about the small de- tails because Rogala had always paid up. Rogala / "People tell me we were crazy totrusthimbuthewasourlaw- erandifyoucan'ttru'styour rag/er, who can ybu trust?' he sar "You trust ourk'lmr when he says you n a ' o eration, don't you?" all? Wagensveld, who has under one two open-heart operations an re ceivg a permanent disability pensron. As a lawyer. at least, Rogala hadservedhimwellinthepast. When his 19-year-old son Paul died of a heart defectfour' years ago, Rogala had phoned right away to offer his condolences and help with the funeral arrange- ments When his second son Jeff, now 22, fell off a roof and was left con- fined to a wheelchair two years ago, the lawyer he] persuade the Workers' m tion Board to pick up onethrrd of the Egru'chase price of the Ancaster me ala ad that the be an xential part of Jeff's rehabili- tationandcare mI'hat's what makes it twice as hard," said Mr. Wagersveld "He knew we needed the money and he walked away with it." In the last while, he has also learned that three people, includ- ing a former law er, had re ported ala to e law Society ofUpper dafour earsago. They complained t Rogala was borrowing money from cli- ents, which is rohibited under the rula of pro monal conduct for lawyers "If I had known there was a complaint, I would have never given him the money," Mr. Wa- gensveld said (The law society said it could not comment because no discipli-- nary action was taken against Rogala as a molt of the com- plarnt.) Meanwhile, Mr. Brabant, who has the dubious distinction of be ing the biggest loser, said he harbors no rll feelings towards ala. Rotfihen he handed the $210,000 to the lawyer on Dec 21, 1988, he un- derstood it was to provide a short term loan for two parties closing a real estate deal He later learned, however, the money never reached these par- ties and barely touched down in the lawyer's trust account before it was used to buy lottery tickets and to pay back loans from George Srnclair Corstruction and another Stoney Creek developer. "When I heard about it (on the radio), I felt sick for Albin," Mr. Brabant said "Here's a brilliant young man who'll end up in jail or three or four years" "He has a sickne$ like an alco- holic He thought he would hit it b' and ev bod off," he 3&ed. Day CW Y Accountant Charles Costanra, who lost $50,000, said he and his son, who is out $90,000, decided to invest with Rogala because of his reputation as "an outstanding gees-minim A and e is open above and done all the time," he said "It seemed like a nod way to make a few bucks oonewaslookingtobebumed" El Continued on E3