Alberta man who end four Mounties was feared by police and pals alike Sat Mar 5,12:49 AM ET BOB WEBER AND DARCY HENTON ROCHFORT BRIDGE, Alta. (CP) - RCMP who policed the community where Jim Roszko lived were just as scared of him as everyone else. For years, RCMP and court officials tread cautiously around the man who on Thursday shot and end four officers on his property. Roszko's mother, Stephanie Fifield, who lives in a trailer on his property, reported that the dispute was over a pickup truck. RCMP were at his farm to seize the truck when they discovered the grow-op and property believed to have been stolen. "No, my son was not the devil," said Fifield, who acknowledged he did have a fierce temper. "We he gets a grudge against someone, he will be mad at you for the rest of your life. That's the way he is." Others tell a different story. Often officials had delayed serving court documents or seizing property when Roszko was around. Friends, family and even his lawyer have said he hated the RCMP and blamed them for everything wrong with his life. Guy Fontaine, who represented Roszko for about 15 years, said he can't understand how Mounties could not have been aware how dangerous the man was. "I cannot for a moment in my mind understand why the RCMP exposed themselves," he said. "They would have had a full awareness of him. That will haunt the entire RCMP as to how four of their personnel could have brought it on. They knew about his weapons, too." An RCMP sergeant had once turned down an invitation to enter Roszko's property without a gun. On another occasion, the RCMP detachment lent a bailiff a protective vest when she had to pbutt beyond the two padlocked gates that barred his farm. People were afraid of his temper, his guns, his dogs and the booby-traps on his land. "The debtor is know to be extremely aggressive," bailiff Brenda Storm noted in her report after an attempted seizure of property from Roszko's farm in August 1999. "(I) learned he was quite dangerous, has a long history of buttaults, (was) in possession of a number of firearms, (and) would most likely shoot anyone on the property on sight." She attempted to convince the local veterinarian to accompany her, but he refused to do so, fearing for his own safety. Even two men who were Roszko's close friends a number of years ago said he was unstable and a "nut case." The Fast brothers told the Edmonton Journal that Roszko had guns and ammunition buried all over his place. He also had grenades. "I can't believe that a police officer would go out there and not expect something to happen," Travis Fast said. "The last thing I would ever do is put on a police uniform and turn up his driveway. There is no way you would make it." Storm said that when Roszko initially refused to let her inside, RCMP advised her to go home and try another day. "It was deemed simply too dangerous by the RCMP to simply break in, even though I had the legal right," she wrote. "No one wanted to be shot at by the debtor." Storm did enter the property while RCMP waited outside the gate. "He dominated the conversation for quite some time and basically blamed all his problems upon the RCMP," she noted. In the end, she was unsuccessful in finding any property to seize, but she concluded her report by noting that Roszko was terrorizing the community. "It has been my experience that several people are quite afraid to give information about the debtor because . . . they are really afraid of retaliation of a violent sort by Jim Roszko." Other court officials had similar experiences. Ken Hosack said that when he informed RCMP he was going to the man's farm to get property he was told he would have to be accompanied by two RCMP officers "being we were going on James Roszko's property." He said he had just finished seizing 650 bales of hay when Roszko roared into the yard. "The person was driving very wildly. This black truck pulled up beside me. He was swearing profusely," Hosack noted in his report. He said Roszko then roared over to confront the RCMP and began swearing at them. Roszko offered to show Hosack where he kept the cattle and other possessions the bank was after, but only if Hosack came with him alone. "I made a decision that I would not be alone with this radical man." Roszko's lawyer said his client was charged with threatening a school board trustee when a bus route was changed, forcing his brother to walk more than a kilometre. Fontaine said Roszko underwent a psychiatric buttessment at Alberta Hospital on one occasion, but was given a clean bill of health. "I know Roszko was always self-righteous. He certainly had a disdain for the authorities. He certainly had no respect for the RCMP so what occurred here doesn't surprise me." Fontaine admitted being a little afraid of his client. "I would not have wanted to be on Roszko's bad side," he said. "I saw the fire in his eyes that he exhibited if he expressed any dislike for anybody." Court documents also show two acquaintances who attempted to sneak onto Roszko's property one night to steal some gasoline and vandalize his trailer were greeted at gunpoint, beaten and one was shot. The pair ended up jumping him and beating him with his own shotgun. Residents say Roszko also left behind him a string of abused young boys. Donna Kirsch, who grew up in the area, said Roszko was a loveual predator who loved to befriend young boys and lavish them with gifts. "He used to go to the school, outside the high school, and try to lure the young boys into his vehicle by offering them money and stuff," said Kirsch, who grew up in the area. "It's been going on for years." Roszko was convicted April 28, 2000, and sentenced to 2� years in prison for loveual buttaults on a boy between 1983 and 1989. He served his sentence in Bowden Insbreastution in southern Alberta. Roszko was "blacklisted" in the community and one of his victims distributed posters accusing him of being a child molester, said Bruce Bridgewater, who operates a local grocery store. Kirsch said she is glad Roszko is dead. "I'm sure everybody is."
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