Kelowna pot grower loses appeal of conviction

Man was licensed for 108 plants but had more than 3,300 at his home

A Kelowna man who was found guilty of having 3,200 more marijuana plants in his home than he was legally allowed has lost his appeal for an acquittal.

In February 2013, Kelowna RCMP obtained a warrant to search Jason Beaumont’s home in the Upper Mission.

Beaumont had two licences to produce medical marijuana at his residence, allowing for up to 108 plants.

Information to obtain the warrant came from evidence that police obtained from a confidential source, readings from an infrared device and electricity consumption data.

During the search, officers found 3,317 marijuana plants in the twostorey home.

Beaumont filed an appeal against the conviction in the B.C. Court of Appeal, seeking either an acquittal or a new trial.

He argued the manner in which the information to obtain the search warrant was drafted was improper.

In a B.C. Court of Appeal decision Tuesday, Justice Harvey Groberman dismissed Beaumont’s appeal, saying there was nothing improper in the way the officer prepared his report.

The confidential source told police Beaumont was growing more plants than were permitted by the licence and that there were two grow-operation rooms in the house: one in the basement and one in the garage.

In the trial, police reported using infrared technology to discover the garage and a portion of the basement were hotter than other parts of the home, and hotter than other basements and garages in the neighbourhood.

Police also obtained electrical consumption data from FortisBC for a one-year period.

FortisBC had flagged the residence for unusually high electrical consumption.

An investigator compared the data to average electricity consumption.

The average annual electricity consumption for single-family residences heated by

electricity was 20,167 kilowatt hours, and the average consumption for homes not heated by electricity was 10,628 kilowatt hours.

Electrical consumption by Beaumont’s home in a year was over 37,000 kilowatt hours.

The officer also noted water consumption for the property was excessive, stating that was “consistent with a larger grow operation.”

Beaumont attacked the credibility of the electricity consumption evidence, saying it was problematic because the officer’s experience with grow-ops was derived entirely from investigations of illegal operations. Groberman disagreed. “In my view, the judge was correct in recognizing that the consumption information . . . was capable of showing that the electricity usage significantly exceeded what would be expected for the residence, even taking into account a legal 108-plant marijuana grow operation,” he said. “The trial judge made no error in upholding the search warrant.”