CRACK -down: Alleged Crack Shacks, Who Owns Them?

Monday, May 14, 2007 04:47 AM

From information Opinion250 has been able to put together, there have been 9 homes and one apartment raided by Prince George RCMP within the past few months, all are alleged to have been “Crack shacks “. In the case of three of the residences, they have been raided by police on two occasions.

It is a growing problem in the city and it is taking an all out effort by police to try and break the operations.

Who owns these homes that have been raided as suspected "drug houses"?

Opinion250 has undertaken to compile a list of the owners of these homes to perhaps inform them for the first time that the rental property they own is being used for alleged illicit purposes , or to have them come forward to explain the circumstance surrounding the rental.

We at Opinion250 have made our best efforts to try and contact every single owner of these homes in question.

When we have been able to make contact the question has been, "Do you know that the home you own has been raided as a suspected drug house?" If they have said, no, we then have asked a further question, "Now that you know, what do you plan to do about it?"

Opinion250 has not been able to reach everyone on the list for a number of reasons. The numbers have been disconnected, they do not have answering machines, they have not returned our calls, there is no phone listing available.

Anyone who we have been unable to contact is asked to put forward their comments in regard to this matter by e-mailing 250, at ben@opinion250.com

We have listed the names of the registered owners of these homes as of the most recent information available from the BC Assessment Authority / Land Titles Office.

You may be surprised to learn that each and every owner is listed as living in Prince George.

Opinion250 in the interest of protecting the homes involved is not giving out the addresses, but is publishing a list of the owners of these homes.

They are;

Home #1 ( shown at right)

Neighbourhood:

Heritage/HighGlen

Owner:

Kristine Eileen Pawluk

Comments:

unable to connect with owner

Home # 2 ( shown at left)

Neighbourhood:

Central

Owner:

Dawnalea M Stitch

Comments: She said the raid involved an 18 year old youth from Alberta, who was living in the house at the time. "I didn’t really think that it was a crack shack, although I’m told he was selling drugs out of the home. He was on an ankle bracelet at the time." Dawnalea Stich said "We have known his family since he was a kid and we allowed him to stay at the house." She concluded, "Sometimes there is not much you can do but to watch what’s going on. It is very tough to get someone evicted."

Home #3 ( shown at right)

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.
Police executed two search warrants on this house.

Owner:

Avtar Singh Mehanger

Comment: Did not return our calls

Home #4 (shown at left)

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.

Owner:

Balbir S and Nirmal K Sandhu

Comments: Nirmal Sandu, who with his wife owns this home, said that he was able to evict the people renting from him, and has now repaired the residence. "I didn’t know they were going to operate a drug house there" he added.

Home # 5 (shown at right)

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.

Owner:

Gurnek S & Rajinderjit K Gill

Comments:

Did not return our calls

Home #6 (shown at left)

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.

This home has been the subject of search warrants twice

Owner:

Candace Sarah Rainey

Comments: No phone listed in B.C.

Home #7 (shown at right):

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.

Owner:

Baldev S & Khushwant K Gill

Comments:

Did not return our calls

Home # 8 ( shown at left):

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.

Owner:

Jitendra K and Prakash W Singh

Comments: Unable to find a number where they could be reached

Home #9 ( shown at right)

Neighbourhood:

V.L.A.
Police have executed search warrants on this property twice

Owner:

Aaron Matthew Leatherdale

Comments:

Has not returned our phone calls

Please remember that in the case of all of these houses they are just allegations and should be treated as such, we ask any of these owners to put their comments forward.

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Posted on Monday, May 14, 2007 04:47 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on May 14 2007 7:03 AM

Good questions Ben. I always wondered who owned those places and what their intentions were in regards to those homes.

Questions like, were these homes bought to make money? Were these homes bought because the owners liked the neighbourhood? Were these homes bought with the intention to meet a demand of this sort? Were these homes a good investment? How much rent can one get from a crack shack?

Posted by: Free Enterprise on May 14 2007 7:46 AM

I don't believe anyone wants a crack house. The main problem is the BC Tenancy Law. It is not an easy process to evict someone.

Posted by: frank on May 14 2007 8:04 AM

burn the house down

Posted by: meisner on May 14 2007 10:24 AM

The following is a comment submitted to Opinion250 by a city resident. Please note in our next series we look into the matter of the rental process.

Ben, I own a duplex right across the street from one of these crack shacks. The one person who replied to you has a very good point. As a landlord in BC all the rights belong to the tenants. It takes up to 6 months to evict for cause. In Alberta you are able to walk in the house and throw tenants belongings on the street to evict them for cause. You don�t have to wait ridiculous amounts of time. I am fortunate to have decent tenants, but I conduct a walk through every month also. I say the law should change to favor people who are trying to get ahead buy purchasing rental property, not their tenants. If this happens, then hit the owners with big fines if they allow this to happen from one of their properties. Until the law changes to aid landlords in removing tenants like these it is a long expensive process to evict, up to $ 6000.00 plus if you have to have a bailiff come and do a physical removal.

Posted by: travism on May 14 2007 3:31 PM

Add to that the fact if the house isn't trashed already it will be when they leave. Damage deposit might get the carpet clean the rest... well you have a better chance of getting blood from a stone.

Posted by: averagejoe on May 15 2007 7:39 PM

I agree, today all the rights belong to the tenant, but in cases like these the landlord tenacy act should favour the landlord giving them the authority to evict! No landlord wants to have tenants who are drug users or dealers, but the fact is once they rent your property there is nothing a landlord can really do. The real issue is that these people need help if they dont get it then this will be a never ending cycle! If you push these tenants out they will just find another neighbourhood to take over, so the battle needs to be fought on two fronts. First, changes to the tenancy laws to favour the landlords. Secondly, find a way to help the drug users cleanup their act.

Next, to answer the question why do people buy houses in these areas well 30 years ago I remember that neighbourhood very well because I grew up there and it was great! I wouldn't change it for the world because my greatest childhood memories are there. Back then there was no "crack shacks" but a great neighbourhood, but as times change no one can predict what happens in the future. Today, it's not the neighbourhood I once knew but I am sure that these houses are still owned by the original owners. Once a neighbourhood goes downhill it takes a very long time to recover if ever.

Posted by: thereasonableman on May 16 2007 12:16 AM

I don't think this is very fair.

Publishing people's names just adds personal and public embarrassment to an already bad situation.

A friend of mine got transferred years ago, and couldn't sell the house before he left, so rented it out.

A single female tenant on social assistance.

After the rent didn't get paid and repeated failed attempts to get hold of her, my friend managed to come back into town to see what was going on. He found the house open, empty, almost demolished, blood all over the place. She had been there only two months.

Landlords do not ASK for this, it HAPPENS to them. You cannot do criminal record checks on your tenants, nor guarantee their good behavior. The most you can hope for is that they pay the rent and don't demolish the place.

If you do better than that, you are lucky.

Remember:

These people have to live/operate somewhere. They are not going to disappear off the planet, once evicted.

If they don't do it to me, they will do it to you. They just work their way around the rentals, whoever owns that particular one. Blaming the landlord is wrong.