WINNIPEG - A Minnesota business magnate who faked his own suicide and snuck across the border to take up a quiet new life in Winnipeg hoping to evade years in prison was tripped up by the need to medicate his anxiety disorder, court heard Monday.
"I apologize to all of Canada for all the trouble I caused," Paul Decker, 37, also known as Travis Magdelena Scott, said after pleading guilty to possession of a loaded handgun, forgery and a Customs Act charge for failing to report to border officials.
Decker -- described as an intelligent and well-educated man who once owned a successful company providing software to the U.S. military and private business -- was handed a three-year, three-month sentence for his crimes while on the lam in Winnipeg between Sept. 7 and Dec. 22, 2011.
He was credited for more than a year already spent behind bars.
