LIVED UNDERGROUND FOR MONTHS TENDING TO GROW-OP

Pot Caretaker's Job Reaches A New Low

Patrick Richardson sunk to unbelievable depths just to eke out a
living. In what could be described as one of the world's worst jobs,
Richardson lived three metres beneath the earth in a buried railway
car as the so-called caretaker for one of the most elaborate
marijuana grow operations ever discovered in Manitoba. Details of his
bizarre occupation were revealed publicly for the first time
yesterday as he pleaded guilty to drug charges in Winnipeg provincial
court and was sentenced to 30 months in prison.

Richardson, 43, spent at least three months last summer alone,
strumming his guitar, reading magazines and listening to his portable
radio, while ensuring the heating, lighting and watering systems in
six adjacent buried railway cars were working.

The cars, located on a rural property near Dauphin, were stuffed with
more than 1,400 marijuana plants that could provide an annual yield
of 700 pounds (261 kilograms) of pot, worth an estimated $1.4-million.

Richardson's makeshift home included a fridge, stove, bed and working
toilet and water supply that tapped into an underground well,
allowing him to remain in his secret lair for extended periods of
time.

Defence lawyer Greg Brodsky said his client was a "simpleton" who was
recruited by others involved in the drug operation because of his
ability to be self-sufficient. Richardson, who has never married, has
no children and achieved a Grade 10 education, was living alone in a
small trailer in the community of Cranberry-Portage, located just
south of The Pas.

"This was a surreal experience. You don't even get to see sunlight,"
said Brodsky, noting his client would occasionally be spelled off and
allowed to return above ground.

"He was hired to water the plants, and make sure the power didn't go
off. He was the lowest rung on the ladder," said Brodsky.

Richardson was paid a daily wage, just a little more than minimum
wage, and didn't receive a cut of any drug profits, he said.

Richardson had worked alone previously in the bush as a logger while
gaining the trust and support of area residents who found him to be
reliable and friendly, albeit reclusive, court was told.

Several of those citizens signed a petition and filed letters of
support yesterday for Richardson, whose only prior brushes with the
law were a few drug possession charges spanning the past two decades.
RCMP uncovered the well-camouflaged bunker last fall following an
extensive undercover investigation.

It was about three metres underground and completely covered over
with dirt. The brush that had been removed to make way for the hole
had all been replaced and there were trees up to 15 centimetres in
diameter sitting on top of the bluff.

The entrance, complete with a hidden stairway, had been dug into the
ground and was well hidden.

"Someone went to a lot of work," Staff Sgt. Ron Marlin of the
Parkland RCMP said. "To look at it from a distance or from the air,
you would have no idea it was there."

The bunker was powered by two diesel generators and a concealed water
supply system was found. The plants were at various stages of growth.

The rail cars were lined up side-by-side and the old-fashioned
sliding doors had been removed so people could move freely from one
car to the next. A total of three men, including Richardson, have
been charged.

Joel August Maguet, 28, of Ste. Rose du Lac, pleaded guilty last week
in Dauphin court to numerous charges and received a total sentence of
five years, three months in prison. The Crown described him as one of
the "governing minds" of the operation.

Ryan Kelly Grywacheski, 23, of the Rural Municipality of Mountain,
remains before the court.