Pubdate: Fri, 24 Jul 2009 Source: Chilliwack Times (CN BC) Copyright: 2009 Chilliwack Times Contact: http://www.chilliwacktimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1357 Author: Mike Chouinard, Staff Writer BUNGLED GROW RIP NETS PRISON TIME Violent Aspect Swayed Decision Samuel Glennie, 20, could have been taking post-secondary classes right now. Instead, he'll be spending time in prison for his part in a bungled grow-rip in Chilliwack last summer. On Tuesday, he was the fourth and final person from a Teskey Road grow-rip to be sentenced. Glennie's three co-accused received federal prison sentences in April of between five years and four and a half years. Glennie's sentencing was delayed to allow time for a pre-sentence report and a psychological assessment. He has no criminal record and faces some "developmental impairments," specifically a condition known as autism spectrum disorder, which has provided social and academic challenges for him. Still, the reports noted he is a "high functioning" person with an aptitude for multimedia arts and was not mentally handicapped, only immature for his age and highly impressionable. "Mr. Glennie is clearly aware of what he did on this occasion," Judge Thomas Crabtree said. The judge was sympathetic to Glennie's challenges, which included missing out on post-secondary classes because an administrative error that delayed his secondary school graduation. He considered a number of mitigating factors for the accused, including the support his family in Coquitlam, but because of the serious nature of the offence and Glennie's breach of release conditions, he could not impose a conditional sentence. "It's a serious offence and involves violence," Crabtree said. "It's a concern for any community." Though he did not give a conditional sentence, the judge said Glennie's situation was an "exceptional circumstance" and he needed to impose a sentence at the low end of the range. "There is great potential for you, Mr. Glennie, to do things in the future," he said. Glennie received a two-year prison sentence with eight months credit for time spent in custody. He will also face two years of probation, a 10-year firearm ban and must provide a DNA sample. Glennie and his co-accused, Clarence Carvery, Markus Dennison and Arold Reddy, were arrested following the grow-rip on the morning of July 27, 2008. They had left a crack house in Surrey to rob a supposed marijuana growing operation on Teskey Road, armed with a sword, handgun, crowbar and a machete. There was apparently another person behind the scenes who masterminded the operation but who was never named by the accused or arrested. The four had trouble restraining the male occupant at Teskey Road and could not communicate with him because he was not conversant in English. However, they did not injure the man. A bigger problem for them was that the house was in the process of becoming a grow-op but had not yet produced a crop. Police arrived on the scene quickly after an off-duty officer that lived across the street observed the four kick in the front door of the grow-op house. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr