COURT TAKES NV WOMAN'S HOUSE USED IN GROW OP

A North Vancouver woman whose horticultural talents included running
a full-scale marijuana grow op has had her Alder Street home seized
by authorities following a B.C. Court of Appeal decision that found
the government had a right to the property because it had been used
for her crime.

A decision handed down by a panel of three Appeal Court judges
Tuesday upheld the Crown's right to the North Vancouver home owned by
Judy Ann Craig, who pleaded guilty almost two years ago to production
of a controlled substance after police busted a large grow op in her
home.

Craig was originally given a 12-month conditional sentence and
ordered to pay a $115,000 fine by North Vancouver provincial court
judge Judy Gedye. Gedye imposed the fine after noting Craig was
already on the hook for more than $250,000 to the Canada Revenue
Agency for taxes owed on her grow-op income dating back several years.

The Crown appealed the case, saying the government had a right to the
house because in Craig's own estimation about 70 per cent of it had
been used to grow and harvest marijuana.

This week, the Appeal Court judges agreed, setting aside the original
fine and awarding the North Vancouver house to the government.

In handing down the decision, Justice Catherine Ryan wrote that while
the impact of the seizure would be heavy, it wasn't out of proportion
to the crimes committed.

When Craig turned to growing marijuana, she had a university
education, had worked in real estate and had a small inheritance, the
judge noted. ". . . she could have turned her obviously impressive
gardening skills to legitimate use. Instead she chose to operate
outside the law and to devote all her ability to an illegal
endeavour," Ryan wrote, adding the grow op was a "full-time,
year-round business from which Ms. Craig earned her only income."

Craig had also appealed the original sentence, asking that her fine
be reduced to $15,000. But the Appeal Court judges didn't agree.

Trouble for the North Vancouver gardener began on Oct. 21, 2003 when
police phoned Craig to tell her they believed she was running a grow
op in her house. Police then put the Alder Street home under
surveillance and watched as Craig and two other people removed plants
and equipment from the home and tried to hide them on city property.
All three were then arrested and Craig's home and car were searched.

Police discovered the entire basement and large portions of the main
floor in the 1,000-square-foot house had been devoted to the grow
operation that was set up with 16 industrial grow lights and a
ventilation and irrigation system. A total of 186 plants were
seized, in various stages of growth. Police drug experts estimated
the value of the plants seized at $87,500.

Testifying at her sentencing hearing, Craig disputed that figure,
putting the value of one marijuana crop at about $31,875.

Police also seized five pounds of pot from Craig's car plus scales,
packing materials, score sheets, records going back three years and
about $25,000 in cash from the residence.

But Craig's own evidence about her grow op detailed in a fight with
the Canada Revenue Agency over an enormous tax bill from her
undeclared income was also significant in swaying the judge's
opinions. Tax papers revealed Craig's business produced seven crops a
year of 80 plants each and that those crops added up to between
$105,000 and $122,500 in annual revenues.

In the tax documents, seized by police and entered as evidence by the
Crown, Craig claimed expenses for hiring help with the grow op, plus
almost $30,000 in "start-up costs" including house renovations,
construction of a hidden entranceway from the basement to the shed
and modifications to the home's electrical system. Craig said in
those documents about 70 per cent of the house was dedicated to the
grow op.

According to the appeal court judges, "The documents clearly indicate
that Ms. Craig ran a successful commercial operation that grossed
over $100,000 a year in a house largely dedicated to the growing of
marijuana."

While Craig's attempts to negotiate with the taxman "makes it all
very open and above board" the appeal court judges found she had lost
sight of the fact her grow op business was illegal.