Too bad she never met Charlie Sheen.

from www.vancouversun.com – A prostitute who convinced a handicapped man she loved him and was pregnant with his child to cheat him out of more than $800,000 has been convicted in the massive fraud.

A jury convicted Darquise Johnson, 31, on Thursday on all five charges she faced: fraud, conspiracy, extortion, money laundering and possession of proceeds obtained by crime.

“There are always skeptics around who say, ‘You were just a fool for being caught like this,'” said victim Doug Macklem said outside court Thursday. “It’s good to know that 12 other people looked at the story and said, ‘This was a crime; this was fundamentally wrong.'”

Crown attorney Jason Neubauer told court he will seek a lengthy prison term.

The Court of Appeal of Ontario, he noted, has indicated that five years is an appropriate sentence for sophisticated frauds.

Neubauer said Johnson’s crime has had a “devastating” emotional and financial impact on Macklem, a computer systems analyst who uses a wheelchair because of cerebral palsy.

Johnson’s conviction comes more than four years after Macklem received a Christmas Day email saying she had died in the Dominican Republic. By then, Macklem had invested heavily in what he thought were two seaside villas and a related business under the impression that the tourist ventures would form a central part of his life together with Johnson, whom he had first hired as a paid escort in August 2004.

She drew more money out of him for hurricane repairs, fences, furniture, exercise equipment, wheelchair access, mortgage payments, beach taxes, salaries, and even guard dogs.

Macklem borrowed money, mortgaged his family home, and cashed in investments and RRSPs, in order to finance the fictitious enterprises.

At one point, Johnson told Macklem that she would abort his unborn child unless he came up with $114,000 for a car rental and SeaDoo business. She later told Macklem she had suffered a miscarriage, even though she had never been pregnant in the first place.

Macklem fell in love with Johnson more than one year into their escort-client relationship.

Their relationship, he testified, began to change in late 2005 after she called to say she couldn’t afford Christmas gifts for her family. He went shopping with Johnson and paid for $600 in gifts. They went out for dinner and held hands.

Macklem told court that Johnson later asked to be a “higher priority” in his life and announced she would leave the escort business with his support.

Macklem agreed, believing they had launched a conventional relationship.

Johnson argued she was also a victim in the case, blaming her Jamaican-born husband, Nolan, for orchestrating the fraud. She told the jury that the charade was conducted under death threats from her husband.

Macklem has already won a civil judgment against Johnson for $821,000, a fact that could not be reported during her criminal trial. She was twice cited for contempt of court during that proceeding.