Fugitive in decades-old drug case returned to Winnipeg

A Winnipeg man on the run from the law for 30 years has been returned to Manitoba to face decades-old charges related to drug trafficking.

In a recent news release, RCMP said 72-year-old Ian Jackson MacDonald is in custody in Winnipeg after being extradited from the U.S. Thursday. He was expected make a court appearance Friday.

He faces charges of Conspiracy to Import Marihuana stemming from an RCMP investigation dating back to 1979. He was charged with conspiring with a Manitoba legislator and several other people to import up to 225 kg of marijuana into Canada.

MacDonald was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 1980, after a warrant was issued in Winnipeg.

A tall, beefy blond who ran a yacht brokerage and was known as "Big Mac," he was held in a federal prison while awaiting extradition. He feigned a heart attack a few days later and was taken to a hospital, the Marshals Service said.

There, MacDonald persuaded a private security guard to unshackle his legs so he could take a shower, and fled when the guard stepped away to the nurse’s station.

His trail went dormant until last year, when the U.S. Marshals Service in Miami formed a cold case squad to investigate fugitive cases more than 10 years old. They went back through the files and found a handwritten note containing information about MacDonald’s wife, Angela MacDonald.

Marshals Service spokesman Barry Golden declined to say what that "little scrap" of information was, but it led investigators to rural Pennsylvania, where the MacDonalds lived under the names Jack and Angela Hunter.

Investigators found the couple also used those names to buy a house in the central Florida town of Homosassa, and MacDonald was captured there on Tuesday. He initially gave his name as Jack Hunter, then admitted, "You got me," the Marshals Service said. "I have been looking over my shoulder all these years. I wondered when this day would come," it quoted him as saying.

Former Manitoba Tory MLA Robert Wilson served seven years in prison after a jury found him guilty in the scheme allegedly involving MacDonald, his former friend. Wilson was convicted of helping to import 500 pounds of marijuana, supposedly hidden in boats, from Florida to sell in Winnipeg.

Wilson, now 76, has always maintained his innocence, claiming his arrest was a classic case of guilt by association. He told a Vancouver newspaper last month he hoped the arrest of MacDonald would help clear his name.