Local DJ arrested for alleged basement grow-op
Okotoks: Police arrest two men for pot plantation
A local DJ and a former Team Canada speed skater have been arrested for allegedly keeping a grow-op in the basement of their Okotoks home.
Okotoks RCMP arrested one man in a traffic stop on Jan. 31. Police subsequently searched a Cimarron house where he was living and found 422 marijuana plants growing in the basement in a raised soil bed on the floor. Another man was in the house when officers arrived and was arrested.
Cpl. Brent Bliss of the Okotoks RCMP said police were tipped off to the grow-op by a call to Crimestoppers.
“That information was corroborated by an investigation,” Bliss said.
There were 422 plants, worth $317,0000 on the street, in their second stage of growth in an area surrounded by plastic sheeting. Industrial lights had also been set up, there were extensive electrical modifications and a water source was being stolen to water the plants.
Bliss said relatives of one of the men charged in the grow-op owned the home. Canada Health condemned the house, saying it was contaminated by the grow-op.
Const. Martin Gaudet of the Okotoks RCMP is leading the investigation into the grow-op.
He said there were not visible signs of damage to the house, but upon further inspection the health authorities did find problems.
The grow-op was located on Cimarron Meadows Bay, near a playground, and also in the same neighbourhood where shots were fired at a home several years ago.
Gaudet said after talking to neighbours, it seemed like it is nice area, unfortunately and area attracting one bad seed from time to time.
Charged with producing a controlled substance, possession of an illegal substance for the purpose of trafficking and theft of a utility are Marty Madsen, 34, of Okotoks, and James Allen Ivey, 35 of Okotoks.
Madsen is a DJ, who has performed locally and recently was a New Years Eve party in Okotoks. He was released on $1,000 bail, ordered to not consume or have any drugs or alcohol in his possession and will continue living in Okotoks.
Ivey is a former speed skater who was on the Canadian world championship team in 2002 and competed at several world cups. He retired from the sport in 2007. On his Facebook page he said he is the CEO of a company called Money Machine. It’s described as helping people set up their own businesses “so they can work from home and have all the fun an(y) time they need to be healthier and wealthier.” Ivey was released on $500 bail and ordered to live at a Calgary residence.
Both will be in Okotoks Provincial Court Feb. 10 to enter a plea.
In order to post comments on our web site, you must validate your email address. An email was sent to you when you registered that included an activation link. If you have not yet done so, please click on the link to activate your account.
If you did not receive your activation email, please click here to have it resent.
Already a member? Login here!
Not yet a member of the site? Register here!
Comments
Obviously, their neighbours were oblivious to this (It's safe to assume as no calls were made until now) and their lives were not being effected by this marijuana grow operation.
Who benefits from prohibition? Well let's look a history, people like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly (model citizens) sure enjoyed prohibition, did they not? Criminals are the ones who get to capitalize on illegal substances, and the stiffer the penalties, the bigger the profits.
If this false market didn't exist (we create, with our baseless non-fact driving policies) the crimes surrounding drugs (not just production to deal with folks) would not exist, less break and enters, less murders, less money being funnelled into gangs, this would all occur and has been studied over and over again, but our federal government continues to push US style policies. If you look at the United States, billions upon billions (> $ 500 000 000 000) has been spent and drug use continues to increase!
Time to legalize, we have enough bills as it is. Giving money to the police to destroy lives over a harmless planet seems wasteful to me.
I would go further into detail, for that I would need multiple pages.
Category:
Category 2:
Category 3:
message ID: 334460
Post On: February 8, 2012
Posted by User #: Hubcap
Posted by IP:
message:
Two more lives ruined over a silly plant, how Canadian.
Obviously, their neighbours were oblivious to this (It's safe to assume as no calls were made until now) and their lives were not being effected by this marijuana grow operation.
Who benefits from prohibition? Well let's look a history, people like Al Capone and Machine Gun Kelly (model citizens) sure enjoyed prohibition, did they not? Criminals are the ones who get to capitalize on illegal substances, and the stiffer the penalties, the bigger the profits.
If this false market didn't exist (we create, with our baseless non-fact driving policies) the crimes surrounding drugs (not just production to deal with folks) would not exist, less break and enters, less murders, less money being funnelled into gangs, this would all occur and has been studied over and over again, but our federal government continues to push US style policies. If you look at the United States, billions upon billions (> $ 500 000 000 000) has been spent and drug use continues to increase!
Time to legalize, we have enough bills as it is. Giving money to the police to destroy lives over a harmless planet seems wasteful to me.
I would go further into detail, for that I would need multiple pages.