LANDLORD DIDN'T SUSPECT TENANT WAS MARIJUANA GROWER

Landlord Allen Mogus says he sometimes goes through 10 applicants
before giving someone the okay to rent one of his warehouse units on
the 12000 block of No. 5 Road, just south of the SPCA building.

So when two clean-cut car salesmen approached him two years ago to set
up an after-hour car detailing shop, Mogus checked their references
and they passed with flying colours.

Their jobs checked out, they paid their rent six months in advance and
the office at the front of the warehouse was decorated with office
furniture, tires, demonstration displays and car part brochures.

That's why it was such a surprise Thursday afternoon when Mogus
learned that the unit they had rented contained a small marijuana grow
operation.

"It's totally baffling. It's a total surprise to me."

Richmond Fire-Rescue responded to a complaint that water was leaking
into some adjacent units, including Ram Manufacturing and Integrated
Cable Systems.

Once inside the building, fire crews stumbled upon the grow operation
set up in a downstairs back office and another on the mezzanine level.

Richmond RCMP seized 68 plants and after an investigation arrested a
54-year-old Delta man, who is expected to be charged with cultivating
a controlled substance.

Nearby tenants expressed shock that a marijuana operation was in their
midst.

"Everybody else professes surprise," said David Tolton, general
manager of Ram Manufacturing.

Just a couple of months ago, at least one tenant complained about
water seeping into his unit.

The leak was blamed on a sink that had overflowed.

So when there was another leak Thursday around 5 p.m., there was no
suspicion of anything illegal.

A next-door tenant, who asked not to be named, said he ran into the
owner of the supposed detailing shop only once but commented that
there was "nobody ever there for weeks on end."

Mogus, who prides himself in thoroughly checking out his client's
references and described them as family men 'who could be teachers,'
said he knew the men worked as car salesman during the day and so
their odd hours weren't surprising.

But the marijuana certainly was.

Mogus said he checked for the tell-tale signs of a marijuana grow
operation, aware of the coverage in the newspapers about Richmond
Mayor Greg Halsey-Brandt's grow-op crackdown. His tenants' jobs as car
salesmen checked out, their front office fitted the part of a
detailing shop, and he never saw any condensation that would be
expected if plants were growing inside.

Now he knows why he didn't see any condensation.

The tenants had taped and sealed the two rooms in which the plants
were grown so no humidity could escape. They had used extension cords
to power the lights and fans, set up a plumbing system and added an
extra wall. When police finally exposed the room, water quickly began
to condense on the windows, Mogus said.

Mogus prides himself as being a good judge of character and nothing
about these men gave him a bad feeling.

And indeed when he spoke to one of them Friday morning after the bust,
Mogus said his tenant was apologetic and remorseful.

The tenant explained that his car detailing business wasn't performing
as expected and he resorted to growing marijuana.

"Never in a million years," Mogus said of whether he would have
suspected this.

"I go to see my tenants quite often. I still call them nice guys."

Mogus warns other landlords not to be fooled with suits and ties, good
references and a lack of the tell-tale signs of a grow operation.

But short of walking through every room of the building, he's not sure
of what he would do differently.