A longtime fugitive wanted for manslaughter in Florida admits it was “a mistake” to flee to Toronto, where he was recently arrested after spending more than 21 years on the run.
In a sworn affidavit obtained by CBC News, Patrick Lutts Jr. publicly outlines for the first time how he hid from U.S. authorities after his involvement in a drunk-driving crash in Orlando, Fla., that killed two teens.
Lutts has no passport, he said, no Canadian bank account and had stayed in the same apartment in Toronto’s Church and Wellesley neighbourhood since 2004.
A CBC investigation revealed earlier this month that Lutts, 51, lived openly in Toronto after skipping a plea hearing in a Florida court in 2003. With a warrant out for his arrest, Lutts hosted monthly trivia nights at a local bar and — under the alias Pat Lighthelp — provided relationship advice to clients as an online psychic.
“I thought that authorities would be able to find me as I stayed in the same place in Toronto for over 20 years,” Lutts wrote. “That day just never came until now, but I am tired of running.”
The affidavit, dated March 25, was filed in Ontario Superior Court as Lutts asked to be released on bail, pending extradition to Florida. A judge later denied his request, and Lutts remains in custody in a Toronto jail.
His arrest in February by the Toronto Police Service fugitive squad came after a Crime Stoppers-type service in Florida received an anonymous tip about his whereabouts in November 2023. The tip appears to have come from a U.S.-based internet sleuth who claims to have used facial recognition technology and social media clues to track Lutts to Toronto.
According to court records, Lutts faces up to 30 years in prison if convicted on the two counts of DUI manslaughter. The charges stem from an early morning crash on Christmas Day 1998 that killed 19-year-old Nancy Lopez and her boyfriend, Darvin Javier DeJesus-Taboada, 18.
Investigators said Lutts, whose truck smashed into the vehicle carrying the two teens, had a blood-alcohol level more than three times the legal limit and a “strong odour of alcohol coming from his breath.”
“I know the allegations against me are extremely serious,” Lutts said in the affidavit, describing the crash as “the vehicular accident I was involved in.”
Lutts said he “was never personally contacted or approached by authorities” about the Florida charges laid in March 1999 until his arrest for another impaired-driving incident in Connecticut in 2002.
The following year, Lutts, a U.S. citizen, admits he fled to Canada instead of attending his plea hearing set for Oct. 1, 2003.
“At the time, a passport was not required” to cross the border, Lutts wrote.
It’s unclear how exactly Lutts entered the country. According to Ontario court files, he has no legal immigration status and Canada Border Services Agency has no record of his entry.
Lutts tried to cross at a Niagara Falls, Ont., port of entry on Sept. 29, 2003 — two days before that key court hearing — but was turned away due to the criminal charges in Florida, according to a police affidavit.
Still, Lutts recounts settling in Toronto that year and meeting his longtime partner in 2004. Within months, Lutts says he moved into his partner’s apartment, where Toronto police placed him under surveillance in December 2023.
Lutts says he used his real name to open a Fido cell phone account and a post office box.
Still, he said, “leaving for Canada and not facing the Florida charge was a mistake.”
Lutts remains a flight risk: prosecutor
In a letter included in Lutts’s Ontario court file, a senior Florida prosecutor asked in March that Canadian authorities deny bail to the longstanding fugitive.
“Mr. Lutts has already demonstrated that he is a flight risk and will flee if granted release,” Assistant State Attorney Brian C. Hagner wrote.
“By fleeing to Canada, Mr. Lutts has demonstrated the lengths to which he will go to avoid answering for the crimes with which he has been charged.”
Lutts’s affidavit said the opposite: he insisted he can’t flee stateside — where his family lives — because “I know I would immediately be arrested.” Plus, “I cannot flee anywhere because I have no passport.”
Public social media posts in recent years, however, suggest Lutts moved freely within Canada, including multiple ski trips to Whistler, B.C.
Lutts pledged to remain on house arrest at his home in Toronto and wear an ankle monitor that could track him via a global positioning system if released on bail.
The judge’s reasons for denying him bail are not listed in the court file. Canadian courts weigh a series of factors when considering whether to release an accused, including whether they will show up for scheduled hearings and whether their release would undermine confidence in the justice system.
‘He’s no longer running free:’ victim’s family
Lutts appeared twice this week in a downtown Toronto court by videolink from jail. His case is scheduled to return in June. No date has been set for a formal extradition hearing.
Ralph Anthony Cordero, whose stepsister died in the 1998 crash, watched a live video feed Wednesday morning from his home in Washington state.
“It was very pleasing to see that he’s no longer running free,” Cordero told CBC after Lutts appeared on screen, wearing orange jail garb. Cordero said his family never lost hope that Lutts would be found, even after more than two decades on the lam.
“The motivator” for Lopez’s loved ones, Cordero said, “was to ensure that this guy does not die before we get our hands on him.”
