'80S HIGH ROLLER REDUCED TO RIPOFFS BY CRACK HABIT

No more bad loans: judge

A onetime hotshot realtor who fell victim to crack cocaine was banned
yesterday from borrowing money from anyone other than his family.

The order, imposed as part of a two-year conditional sentence, is designed
to keep Larry York from conning unsuspecting victims into giving him money
to feed his habit, court heard.

The 40-year-old reformed addict was convicted yesterday of fraud for
scamming a video store clerk into giving him $40 on the pretext of needing
gas and food money. He spun a yarn about having to deliver a truck from
Villeneuve to Calgary and running out of money, court heard.

York was initially charged with robbery but pleaded guilty to the lesser
offence of fraud. He was known to the police for using the ploy on other
unsuspecting clerks or retailers, said prosecutor John Watson.

While he promised to repay his victims, York never followed through, said
his lawyer Dino Bottos.

The addictive drug had such a tight grip, York said he became obsessed with
getting money for his next high.

"It's a very powerful poison," he said. "It makes you do things you'd never
otherwise dream of doing. It controlled my life for five years."

Bottos said his client became hooked on the drug in the late 1980s when he
was making good money as a realtor. He said the drug took over his life and
he ended up losing his job, his house, his wife and two children.

York, he said, hit rock bottom after being charged with robbery after the
video store incident April 7, 1997.

The prospect of going to jail motivated him to get help and he enrolled in
a treatment program, said Bottos.

York, a born-again Christian, credited his recovery to God.

"Being a Christian, the Lord has set me free of this drug," he said.

As part of his sentence, York is banned from borrowing money from anyone
other than family and banking institutions for the purpose of business.

He was also ordered by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Lawrie Smith to serve
60 days of the sentence in jail.

Copyright (c) 1998, Canoe Limited Partnership.

Checked-by: Mike Gogulski