Suspected drug house in Spruce Grove shut down after years of complaints

Police have shut down a suspected drug house in Spruce Grove for 90 days after years of complaints from neighbours.

The Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods (SCAN) unit of the Alberta Sheriffs says the home at 31 Heatherlands Way will be boarded up and fenced off.

The property owner is facing court conditions for two years.

Police say a hazmat team was called in to clear the property “as a matter of protocol.”

Authorities say “habitual drug activities at the property” led to RCMP being called to the home 125 times since 2020 for varying offences such as drug trafficking, mischief and stolen property.

“Complainants that lived in the neighbourhood expressed fearfulness and concern over the activities that were happening at the property,” Insp. Karleen Schenkey of the SCAN unit told CityNews.

“This property backs on to a field where kids play every day. And we’re hoping that this community can experience a summer where they don’t have to worry about what’s going to trickle out of the backyard into the soccer field.”

RCMP say the homeowner was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking in November 2023 after a search of the home under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

“There was a number of drugs that were seized at that time,” said RCMP Insp. Kevin McGillivray of the OIC Parkland Detachment. “When we executed the warrant there were 17 people in the residence, and it’s typical of some of these houses that we run into, it attracts a lot of that type of attention.”

McGillivray adds weapons were seized “on a number of occasions” that month.

“When we’ve been here on numerous occasions, we’ve located people with outstanding warrants in possession of other stolen property and other crimes that we’ve had to investigate,” he said.

Home for sale, listed at $380,000

The community safety order prevents anyone from entering the home until Aug. 27, with SCAN unit members vowing to monitor the property.

But police will make exceptions to that rule as the house was listed for sale on Friday.

“We have been working with the owner and with the owner’s realtor. As a unit we’d like to see that through,” Schenkey said of the possible sale. “I think it’s a better long-term solution for the community.

“So we will support the owner in selling this property. And to support the owner that’s going to look like us giving the realtor access to show the property. We’ve already allowed some dates moving forward for the realtor to come in and do some inspections on the property to help move that forward.”

Since its inception in 2008, the SCAN unit says it’s investigated more than 9,000 properties and issued 120 community safety orders.

–With files from Rod Maldaner and Carly Robinson