Security guard David Butler says he thought the money was part of a trust fund and spent most of the $115,000 on strippers. Now, he’s been charged with defrauding the public.

The last time David Butler saw his ailing father was Christmas Day 1997, to ask him for money to buy a garage-door opener.

When he left the nursing home, he told his 92-year-old father he would pay him another visit on New Year’s Day, but on its eve, Norris Ellwood Butler, a longtime accountant for the federal government, died.

Yet from that day on, and for seven years, Norris Butler’s pension cheques continued to be deposited in a joint account he shared with his only son.

The Ottawa security guard said he spent most of the $115,000 in pension money on strippers at clubs around town.

“When I did spend the money it was quite often in the champagne rooms.

“They treated me well,” said Mr. Butler, 64. “I always had a good time.”

An RCMP fraud investigation has now yielded a criminal charge of defrauding the public against David Ellwood Butler, who declared bankruptcy and now lives alone in a cluttered one-bedroom apartment in Kemptville.

The government didn’t realize it was still paying a pension to a dead man until July 1, 2005. Norris Butler would have been 100 years old in 2005.

The pension office that claims it was never notified about the death asked the CIBC to freeze the joint account, prompting Mr. Butler to call the government.

In a letter to the government, David Butler eventually detailed his misadventures dating back to 1993, the year he got power of attorney over his father’s affairs.

The months leading to his father’s death were the worst of his life. His longtime wife left him on his birthday week in June, and his mother, Eleanor, died in October.

He told the government that he thought the cheques were survivor or child benefits even though he didn’t qualify for either.

Mr. Butler also proposed solutions about reimbursing the government.

“I made an offer to the government and they refused it,” he told the Citizen on Friday.

The government wanted the bank to repay the money but CIBC declined all responsibility in the case, and placed blame on the living account holder, claiming he “benefitted” from the funds.

David Ellwood Butler leads a lonesome life. He likes volunteering as a flagman at racetracks and, beyond that, has few interests. Strip clubs and their VIP rooms is one of them.

Now that he’s declared bankruptcy, he doesn’t go nearly as often, but in the day when he frequented them — up to four times a week — he created an alter ego called “The Observer Poet” — or TOP, as noted on the vanity plate of his Ford Focus.

He writes his poems at strip clubs, at the bar and sometimes on ‘pervert’s row,’ the edge of the stage where dancers disrobe. The poems are for the dancing girls and, once written, he gives them a copy on an index card. He keeps the original in a journal.

These journals are scrapbooks accounting for the years in dark clubs with track lighting and mirror balls. In some journals, he keeps photographs of strippers, some of whom have written notes thanking him for his poems.

He shared with the Citizen the following poem, titled Pigale Bar-Staff:

If to Pigale in Gatineau you chance to go

You don’t have to concentrate on the show

When you sit around the bar

For Kathy can become your managerial star

There’s not much to show for all the money he spent. The estate of his father, who worked at Price Waterhouse before joining the government, included a furnished bungalow in Bells Corners, stocks, money and a stamp collection worth $25,000.

“I’ve had some bad advice along the way,” Mr. Butler recalled.

The Mounties started sniffing around his finances in November 2007. Drawing from government files, RCMP investigators went to court and won an order to seize financial records from the CIBC branch at 119 Sparks St. They were looking for a pile of documents, including bank statements, the signature card, conventional and direct deposits, withdrawals, cancelled cheque vouchers, money orders and power of attorney and investment records.

In an affidavit to win the court order, an RCMP investigator said she believed that David Butler “did by deceit, falsehood of other fraudulent means defraud Superannuation, Pensions of Public Works ans (sic) Government Services Canada of a value exceeding five thousand dollars, committing thereby the indictable offence provided by section 380 (1) (a) of the Criminal Code.”

The alleged offence of defrauding the public has not been proven in court, nor has Mr. Butler entered a plea. His next court appearance is in November.

The offence carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Mr. Butler said he thought the money was his trust fund. When asked if he had ever talked to his father about a fund, he said: “He didn’t say that specifically about a trust fund … He had set up Canada Savings Bonds for me and I thought it was something of that nature.

“I should have paid more attention.”

His late father, Norris Ellwood Butler, an accountant known for being careful with his money, is described by family and friends as a “perfect gentleman.”

He’s buried in the Garden of the Last Supper at Capital Memorial Gardens under a big maple. The plot is shared with his wife, Eleanor, who died before him, and the inscription reads, “Together Forever.”

David Butler, now accused of cashing his dead father’s pension cheques for seven years, has a plot waiting for him right next to them.