The Rennie Hotel on Highway 44 had been a hub for generations, where news about wedding plans, new jobs and expectant moms kept community members up to date.
But Pelle Lambiase, intoxicated and fuelled by revenge, destroyed the hotel in the hamlet that bears the same name, as well as the adjoining post office, with a splash of lighter fluid and the flick of a lighter early on Dec. 8, 2022.
Provincial court Judge Cynthia Devine sentenced the 65-year-old to two years in federal prison for the arson this week, which robbed the community of 120 people, about 100 kilometres east of Winnipeg near Whiteshell Provincial Park, of their meeting place.
THE CARILLON ARCHIVES
The Rennie Hotel burned down Dec. 8, 2022.
“The Rennie Hotel was a home, business and social hub for the community for approximately 80 years. The crime was shocking and has resulted in a huge social and community loss for the small hamlet,” said Devine.
Lambiase had pleaded guilty to a charge of arson to property. He confessed to RCMP three months after the blaze, only after officers showed him surveillance video in which he was seen deliberately lighting the fire.
Devine detailed the circumstances of the revenge-motivated blaze and the aftermath while reading her sentencing decision on Tuesday.
The hotel, which had been purchased by newcomers to Rennie 18 months earlier, had been closed for about a month before the arson. It was empty at the time of the blaze.
Lambiase, who was a chef at a nearby restaurant that was owned by his friend, was angry at the hotel owners in relation to an argument and physical altercation between them and his friend.
Devine said he had been “stewing” over the altercation.
While intoxicated on opiates and alcohol, he carried a satchel into the post office, pulled out lighter fluid and a barbecue light and set the blaze.
Lambiase later claimed he was so intoxicated that he didn’t recall setting the fire until after the Mounties showed him the video tape.
Devine said she did not accept that Lambiase wouldn’t have had some idea he had set the blaze with lighter fluid, even if he was severely intoxicated.
A passerby noticed the flames and called for help, but the building was a total loss; the estimated cost to rebuild was in excess of $6 million.
Three generations of a family had operated the hotel — a bar with hotel rooms above — from 1952 until 2021.
The family continued to operate the post office and held the mortgage on the hotel, Devine said.
The hotel was underinsured, said Devine, so the loss to the new owners and the mortgage holders is significant.
She ordered Lambiase, who lives off Canada Pension Plan payments, to pay $62,000 in restitution to the new owners to cover the amount they spent buying the place.
Community members and both the current and former owners of the hotel spoke about the impact of the crime at an earlier hearing.
“One community member talked about how she was married there… Another woman talked about how her grandparents opened the hotel in 1952 and how she grew up there as a child. She talked about the fire harming a small town trying to survive,” the judge said.
“Another community member characterized the loss to the town as devastating because the hotel was a community gathering place where engagements, weddings and baby news were shared.”
Crown prosecutor Martyn Langstaff had asked for a three-year sentence while defence lawyer Brett Gladstone sought either a conditional sentence order — amounting to house arrest with conditions — or two years behind bars.
Devine said the serious crime warrants time behind bars.
Lambiase was born to Italian immigrant parents in Montreal and worked in their restaurants beginning as a teen; he worked in the restaurant industry his whole life and volunteers as the chef at a downtown Winnipeg meal program.
His dad beat his mother and Lambiase, who began using cocaine, crack cocaine and opiates by age 18, has dealt with addictions his entire life.
He has a serious criminal record, Devine noted, including property and fraud offences in the 1990s and a sex assault in 2004.
Devine said his lawyer argued he has made some progress on addressing his issues since his arrest.
The hotel was built in 1939 on Highway 44, which was the Trans-Canada Highway at the time.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.
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