RCMP say grandma's grow-op was a righteous raid
By Kyra Hoggan
Castlegar RCMP are standing by their raid of a marijuana grow-op in Pass Creek last month after the grow’s owner, Velma Mullaney, alleged unfair treatment by police.
Mullaney spoke to several local media outlets, claiming she and her partner had permits to grow 49 plants each, and that police refused to either look at her permits or count the plants. She also suggested the possibility of a civil suit to pay for damages to her property after the search. Mullaney also took issue with police cutting off her power and placing herself, her 18-year-old grandson and one of his friends, in jail cells during the search. Mullaney is slated to appear in court on April 6 to face charges of production and possession of marijuana for the purposes of trafficking in connection with another, separate raid at the same property, in which police allege they found 1,200 pot plants. Castlegar detachment commander Sgt. Laurel Mathew said the entire raid was by-the-books, and justified. “We did see her permit – we already had a copy of it with us, and we told her that,” Mathew said. “We did have a warrant based on evidence we had that suggested she was growing more than personal-use amounts – which turned out to be the case. Of course we counted the plants – three individual members did, in fact. “We didn’t do it in front of her – we never do,” she added. “We can’t have people wandering around the premises while we investigate and/or dismantle a grow … that just wouldn’t be safe. It’s standard procedure to bring them to the jail while the search and seizure is conducted, and the paperwork completed, then a Justice of the Peace decides whether they can be released.” She said it was also standard procedure for Fortis BC to come and cut off the power before the raid – stressing it was only cut off to the shed where the grow was, not to the residence – as jury-rigged electrical wiring commonly found in grow-ops can pose serious danger to people and property. “We didn’t damage anything, unless you count dismantling an illegal grow-op ‘damage’,” she said. Nor was it just the number of plants that made the scenario illegal, she added – she said it’s against the law for Mullaney’s grandson and his 17-year-old friend to be tending the marijuana plants without a permit to do so. Police are recommending charges of production and possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking.
