MPI fraudster sent to jail, must repay $35K

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This article was published 21/03/2025 (231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Jason Adrian Desjarlais claimed he was so debilitated by a car crash he couldn’t get out of bed on his own or take more than two steps without the aid of a walker.

But then he got caught by insurance investigators doing yard work, shopping and spending more than nine hours driving around western Manitoba.

“You demonstrated a continual pattern of wilfully engaging in fraud over an extended period of time,” provincial court Judge Sam Raposo told the 55-year-old Winnipeg man Thursday before sentencing him to two years less a day in jail.

“This is one of those cases where the need for denunciation and deterrence is so pressing that a period of incarceration will be the only suitable way to express society’s condemnation of your conduct.”

Desjarlais was convicted after trial last year of one count each of fraud over $5,000 and making false or misleading statements to Manitoba Public Insurance.

Court heard Desjarlais was injured in a car collision in 2015, after which Manitoba Public Insurance provided him with income replacement assistance and home-care assistance, based on his claim he could no longer work or do simple tasks, such as getting out of bed unassisted or making a meal.

Court was told Desjarlais has suffered from longtime and ongoing back problems, has diabetes and heart disease and has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

MPI terminated Desjarlais’s benefits in April 2021 after a four-month-long investigation revealed he wasn’t as debilitated as he had claimed.

“Ironically, there was no need to commit the fraud,” special prosecutor Kathy Bueti told court Thursday. “He would have been entitled to benefits, had he just been truthful. This was not a close call — it was a blatant, flagrant embellishment and deceit.”

MPI spent $35,000 investigating Desjarlais — the same amount he had fraudulently received as income replacement, Bueti said. MPI customers end up paying for Desjarlais’s crimes in the form of higher premiums, she said.

“This was not a victimless crime,” she said. “This is a prevalent and persistent problem.”

Desjarlais provided regular reports to MPI indicating there had been no improvement in his physical condition.

Between September 2020 and January 2021, MPI investigators conducted video surveillance on 13 days, showing Desjarlais “demonstrated functioning that greatly exceeded what was being reported to MPI,” Raposo said when convicting Desjarlais of the charges last May.

Surveillance video captured Desjarlais taking out the garbage, doing yard work, carrying boxes and driving without assistance.

“In contrast to Mr. Desjarlais’s reporting, surveillance videos demonstrated that (he) did not exhibit any observable need for assistance,” Raposo said. “He consistently demonstrated the ability to walk unassisted and without the use of mobility aids. At no time was he observed to lose balance or elect to use an external support while carrying loads or ambulating in the community.”

On Jan. 7, 2021, Desjarlais reported to MPI that with the exception of medical appointments, he had spent most of his time since mid-November in bed.

The next day, investigators followed Desjarlais as he spent more than nine hours driving to Neepawa, Minnedosa and Brandon before returning to Winnipeg, making 23 stops along the way.

A pre-sentence report prepared for court assessed Desjarlais as a high risk to reoffend and described him as a “master manipulator” who is “playing the victim.”

Defence lawyer Tony Kavanagh said Desjarlais, who is Indigenous, was raised in a household rife with violence and substance abuse and, as a teen, turned to drugs to cope.

Raposo fined Desjarlais $5,000 and ordered him to pay $35,000 in restitution to MPI.

Desjarlais remained free on bail during his trial but returned to custody on Nov. 8 after twice failing to appear in court for sentencing.

Desjarlais received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to approximately 18 months.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca