The provincial government wants to seize a 70-year-old Coquitlam woman's home for being an instrument of illegal activity even though the criminal case against her has been dropped.
Following a year-long investigation into a fentanyl drug lacing operation, Karen Leach's home on Cortes Avenue and several other locations were raided by Coquitlam RCMP in June, 2017. The investigation resulted in her, her son Andrew, daughter Rhonda and her son Marcus, and others being arrested. Andrew was sentenced in provincial court on May 25 to 16 years in jail for leading a fentanyl trafficking operation. The charges against his mother, sister and nephew were stayed.
But B.C.'s Director of Civil Forfeiture wants the B.C. Supreme Court to order the family home, Andrew's Coquitlam condo on Pacific Street and four vehicles forfeited as instruments of crime.
In its notice of claim, the government said the search warrant at the Cortes Avenue home, which Karen Leach bought with her late husband Ronald in 1987, resulted in the police seizing more than $700,000 in cash, in excess of 1,000 xanax pills, more than 2,000 counterfeit oxycontin, six firearms, a box of blank credit cards, a blue data card machine and scales.
But in responses to the civil suit filed with the court, Karen and Rhonda claimed to have no knowledge of the items the police seized at the home. They also deny participating in or knowing about any illegal activity.
However, a statement of facts agreed to by both sides at Andrew's sentencing states four firearms, ammunition, a silencer and 2,000 fentanyl pills were found inside his mother's closet, and 450,270 were found under Rhonda's bed with another $224,089 and ammunition in Marcus's room.
B.C. Assessment put the value of the Cortes Avenue property, where Karen, Rhonda and Marcus resided, at $893,000 as of July 1, 2017. Andrew's condo on Pacific Street, which he bought in 2006, was assessed at $337,000, an increase of $104,000 from the previous year.
Rhonda is the registered owner of the two Mercedes, but the government said her brother and his girlfriend, Arghavan Ebrahimi, are the "true owners." Ebrahimi is the registered owner of the Acura, while Demosten owns the 2007 Nissan Altima.
The government claims the defendants do not have sufficient legitimate income to acquire and keep the property and vehicles.
The claim said the RCMP found six firearms, several firearm magazines and ammunition at a Vancouver storage locker Andrew Leach and Ebrahimi visited.
On June 28, 2017, another search warrant executed at Andrew's condo turned up $34,000, including 118 bills marked by the undercover officers. That same day, they discovered $10,000 in the Coquitlam City Centre apartment of an associate Merissa Demosten, along with more than 500 counterfeit oxycontin pills, 537 xanax, 12 grams of cocaine and 44 grams of meth.
They also searched an associate's home in Surrey and found $32,000 along with meth, marijuana, MDMA, ecstasy and cocaine. At Emrhami's house on Robson Drive the RCMP found nearly $3,700 in cash and 9,000 counterfeit oxy.
The suit said Leach was previously convicted of manslaughter with a lifetime firearms ban.
