Abbotsford family fury after botched grow-op bust

By Kent Spencer, The Province

 

An Abbotsford mom says gun-toting police terrified “innocent” children on the weekend during a raid that failed to produce the underground grow-op bunker police were after.

 

“Maybe somebody’s going to get shot the next time,” mom Jennifer Hewison, 35, told The Province after an emergency response team surrounded the family’s home on Saturday, looking for what they called a “large-scale grow operation” in an underground bunker.

 

Abbotsford police admit they failed to find a bunker, but said no apology will be made.

 

“It doesn’t mean it isn’t there,” said Const. Ian MacDonald. “We found things associated with grow ops — such as high-powered lights, timing boards, expensive soil and water lines.”

 

None of that impresses Hewison.

 

“What Abbotsford police did was wrong. They didn’t investigate properly. They came with guns drawn into a house with children. It is an innocent home. They treated us like criminals.”

 

It was the second such incident involving Abbotsford police and an attempted grow-op bust in just over a month. On July 4, officers burst into a home with guns drawn, only to apologize later, calling the family “upstanding citizens.”

 

Hewison said she thinks that power consumption at the property in the 5200-block Lefeuvre Road was one of the links that led police to the house. Marijuana grow-ops usually consume large amounts of electricity.

 

“Two high-voltage compressors are used in a tool shop,” Hewison said. “Our bill is about $300 per month in the winter.

 

“We also have a nosy neighbour who sees us using a generator and thinks everyone is a criminal.

 

“Nothing is going on here. We have no [criminal] records. This is a nice, upstanding community.”

 

Both parents work to support their three children, Hewison said, adding that the family has rented the two-hectare rural property for five years.

 

The property owner was not available for comment.

 

Hewison said an emergency response team clad in black, with rifles and bulletproof vests, appeared with sirens blazing outside their home at 8 a.m. Saturday, demanding the occupants come out with their hands up.

 

After family members emerged, police handcuffed everyone except two preschool-aged children, Hewison said.

 

“The kids were scared. They can’t sleep at night,” she said.

 

Police produced a search warrant and said they were looking for a “large-scale grow operation” in an underground bunker, she said.

 

MacDonald said a backhoe was used to dig 10 test holes over the course of a 10-hour search, but that officers failed to find a grow-op.

 

Asked if Gary Hewison was a target, MacDonald would only say: “Mr. Hewison had care and control of the property.”

 

Although no charges were laid, MacDonald insisted police did not make a mistake and said no apology would be made.

 

“This was investigated for a long time,” he said.

 

“There will be times when people end up in a police takedown,” MacDonald said.

 

“I’m not going to minimize the shock that might overcome somebody when an emergency response team shows up at their door. But we have to bring the troops out, because grow-ops are tied to organized crime,” he says.

 

MacDonald claims the Hewisons “were grateful for police’s presence. They say we left the site better than it was before we came.”

 

Hewison, meanwhile, said she supports the difficult work police have to do, but is concerned about what comes next.

 

“My husband did not have sole control of the shops. One was rented out to a friend. Police told us there were grow-ops here previously. Stuff was dumped over our property.

 

“The whole community is talking about the Hewisons.

 

“They can treat us like criminals, but not [the] minors. The kids are 16. They’re going to be outed at school,” she said.