'DREAM HOME' USED TO GROW MARIJUANA

KITCHENER -- When Wendy and Levi Brubacher bought their dream home in a
picturesque Kitchener neighbourhood, they had no idea that their bungalow
once housed an indoor marijuana grow operation. "I was in shock," Wendy
Brubacher said when she first learned that her house, at 219 Grand River
Blvd. in the Chicopee area of Kitchener, had housed a pot operation.

"I just feel very foolish."

The bearer of the bad news was Dan Dietrich, a foreman with
Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro, who showed up on their doorstep just weeks after
they had moved in, asking if he could inspect their home because he
suspected the home's former occupants stole hydro to feed their pot operation.

The telltale signs -- holes in the basement walls and ceilings to hang
plants and lights, and more than a dozen electrical outlets to feed the
powerful lights -- quickly confirmed Dietrich's suspicions.

The Brubachers aren't alone as more and more of these grow houses are being
sold.

Since June 2000, Waterloo regional police have raided 92 pot houses. But
those are only the homes that police know about. The Brubacher house was
one of an unknown number that went undetected by police.

Recently, the courts have allowed one family to sell six houses where grow
operations were found.

The homes have been seized by the courts and proceeds of the sale will go
into the federal coffers until the criminal charges are dealt with in
court. If the accused are acquitted they get the money, but if they are
convicted, the government keeps the money.

Two of the homes are in Kitchener, and the remaining four are in Waterloo,
Guelph, Brampton and Mississauga.

The Brubachers are one of the lucky ones as their home was well ventilated
and there are no signs of mould or mildew in the house, which could cause
health problems and compromise the integrity of the building.

But the hydro lines were tampered with, and utility workers recently had to
dig down to the foundation and repair the lines to ensure there was no
chance of electrocution as poor-quality materials are often used in illegal
hydro bypasses, Dietrich said in an interview.

The Brubachers haven't yet received the bill for that work for which they
will be liable, said Ron Charie, president of Kitchener-Wilmot Hydro.

When Wendy Brubacher first saw the vacant house last December, she said she
immediately fell in love with it and probably didn't look too hard for any
faults with it.

The asking price was $179,900. The couple offered $165,000 on condition it
passed a home inspection.

Jim Weber, the real estate agent for the vendor, told the couple that a
home inspection was done by a previous potential buyer and the only
problems detected were the house needed a new furnace and roof, Wendy
Brubacher said in a recent interview.

The couple never saw the home inspection report and Weber said in an
interview that he never knew the house was used to grow marijuana.

The couple bought the house for $175,000 and took possession in January.
Looking back, Wendy Brubacher said there were a lot of warning signs.

First, the house was vacant. Secondly, the basement was damaged.

Then, there was the sloppy painting job on the main floor, with paint on
door knobs and wallpaper, as though the place was fixed up in a hurry.

When their adult children first saw the house, Wendy Brubacher said they
joked around saying "these guys must have been high when they painted this
place." And they were right, she said.

She's angry with herself for not insisting they get their own home
inspection before they bought, and strongly urges other potential buyers to
spend the estimated $400 to get a professional to check the property.