COUPLE SAY THEY WERE WRONGLY ACCUSED IN POT BUST

A young couple arrested in connection with a Shawnigan Lake marijuana
grow op bust say the Mounties accused the wrong people.

Scott Walmsley and his girlfriend, Felicia Clements, are both 20 and
both work at a valley pub, him as a cook and she as a server, and
neither live at the address where police discovered more than 600 pot
plants in various stages of growth.

Walmsley, who said he's never been in trouble with the law, said the
entire experience has been a nightmare.

"It's outrageous they wouldn't check with the landlord or see who
lives there or do a bit of research to figure it out instead of just
arresting whoever was in the area," he said.

Clements lives in a separate suite above the Millicent Avenue suite
where police found the plants on Jan. 15.

She was not at home when Shawnigan Mounties, assisted by North
Cowichan/Duncan RCMP and Victoria members of the RCMP's
forensic-identification section, raided the home and found the grow
op, a hydro diversion and associated growing equipment.

Police arrested Clements at her work.

She later asked her boyfriend to pick up her puppies in the
apartment.

"An officer let me have the puppies, but wouldn't let me get their
food," said Walmsley.

"So I put the puppies in my friend's car at the bottom of the driveway
and the officer yelled: 'Scott, I have your puppy food.'"

Walmsley said he ran back up the driveway to retrieve the puppy
chow.

"That's when the officer told me, 'Yeah. You're under arrest for theft
of hydro and this, this and this.'"

Walmsley said he was stunned.

"I said, 'How can you pin this on me? I don't live here and I have
nothing to do with this.'

"(The officer) just started reading my rights and I decided I should
stop talking right there."

Walmsley said not only did he have nothing to do with the marijuana,
he didn't even know the people who lived in the suspect suite.

"We've never seen anyone go down there so I suspect they came during
the night or whatever," he said.

"But, if I was involved, how stupid would I have to be to go back to
the grow op they were busting with police all over the place? I was
just there to get some puppies."

RCMP Cpl. Tim Desaulniers of the Shawnigan Lake detachment said he
wouldn't comment on the case that is now before the courts, but did
say he stands behind the work of his officers.

"Normally we don't charge people unless there's evidence that suggests
they're involved in it," he said.

"If there was no evidence to suggest they were involved, they wouldn't
have been charged."

The couple has a March court date, but Walmsley said he's confident
the charges will be dropped.