Judge rules most of $133K seized after grow-op bust be returned to N.S. seafood broker
CBC
A Nova Scotia judge has ruled that most of the $133,950 in cash seized by police from an SUV following a 2021 raid of an illegal marijuana grow-op near an Eastern Shore lobster pound should be returned to the seafood broker convicted in the case.
Judge Brad Sarson said Monday in provincial court in Dartmouth, N.S., that the prosecution had not proven on the balance of probabilities that Christian Strickland, 40, was intending to spend the money on setting up the grow-op or that it came from marijuana sales.
The judge, however, did order a portion of the money — $26,755.14 — be forfeited as "offence-related property" linked to a separate car insurance fraud scheme uncovered by police during their investigation.
Strickland was among more than a dozen people arrested as part of an RCMP investigation into drug trafficking in the Halifax area that relied extensively on surveillance and intercepted communications, and led to more than a dozen arrests.
An officer testified Strickland was an offshoot of the investigation into the main target. While some of those arrested were charged with cocaine trafficking, Strickland was not accused of those crimes and was charged with cannabis and fraud-related offences.
Police seized the cash from a safe in the vehicle driven by Strickland’s mother on Jan. 6, 2021, after she left her son's Bedford, N.S., apartment, hours after police had busted the grow-op in Popes Harbour, N.S., near Strickland's lobster pound.
The prosecution sought forfeiture of the money after Strickland was convicted earlier this year of cannabis, fraud and public mischief offences. He is currently serving an 18-month conditional sentence.
The defence had argued it was “too speculative” to assume the cash in the safe was to be used to buy equipment for the marijuana operation and there was no evidence any money had yet been made from selling cannabis, Sarson said.
He noted the defence argument that Strickland, who has a previous drug record, was possibly aware of the police practice of seizing cash during such searches and then leaving it to the courts to sort out what should be done with it.
By asking his mother to take it away, it could be inferred that Strickland was simply trying to avoid having money from a legitimate source seized, according to the defence.
Sarson said while the request for his mother to apparently pick up the money was suspicious, there is evidence Strickland ran a legitimate seafood business, which was “to a certain extent” a cash business.
He did find the prosecution had shown, on the balance of probabilities, that about $26,000 came from an insurance scheme where Strickland falsely claimed his BMW had been vandalized. He ordered the money forfeited, even though Strickland has already paid the full amount in restitution.
The judge said there was no evidence Strickland had committed other crimes, beyond those involving the vehicle and the grow-op, and he was left with reasonable doubt that the rest of the cash was “tainted with criminality.”
Strickland’s lawyer, Pat MacEwen, declined an interview request outside the courtroom.
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