'THIS WAS A REAL SMART COOKIE'

THE BRAND new home on Pinery Court seemed like any other in suburban
Scarborough: - In the early evening, somebody was obviously watching TV on
the ground floor.

. Later at night, a TV flicked through the window of an upstairs
bedroom.

. Lights would go on and off throughout the house at various
intervals.

. Garbage bags were put out for pickup.

. A car was often in the driveway.

. Anyone looking in the bare basement windows saw a typical open
basement room, with a washer and dryer and laundry.

But the visual activity merely masked a grow house. It only came to
the attention of Toronto police when the bank tried to repossess the
house after numerous mortgage payments were missed.

Uniform officers who helped repossessors get into the home found
marijuana plants in the basement and the bedrooms.

All the signs that it was a normal home were ruses. The TVs and lights
were set up on timers. A false wall in the basement shielded a huge
crop of marijuana plants from the innocent scene that met prying eyes.
Cops also found a TV monitor linked to a security camera at the front
of the house.

A later investigation showed that nobody had ever lived in the home.
Minutes after the buyer moved in, it appears, he started the grow operation.

Bank officials were stunned to find they had given a mortgage to a
person who didn't exist.

"This was a really smart cookie," said Sgt. Gary McQueen, of Toronto
Police 42 Div. major crime unit.

"This was a new neighbourhood with a lot of new homes, some of them
unoccupied. The neighbours really didn't get a chance to know each
other."

McQueen worries that this could become a new trend.

He said the new home buyers who lived near the house were upset to
learn their new community had already been infiltrated by criminals.