Pubdate: Mon, 19 Dec 2011 Source: Hamilton Spectator (CN ON) Copyright: 2011 The Hamilton Spectator Contact: http://www.thespec.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/181 Author: Danielle Wong TORONTO POLICE SAY THEY SEIZED ITEMS FROM HAMILTON APARTMENT DURING PROJECT MARVEL RAID Toronto police say officers lawfully searched and seized items from a Connaught Avenue South apartment in Hamilton during a countrywide anti-gangs sweep, but the tenant maintains she doesn't know why police broke down her door. "Officers did execute a search warrant (at this address)," Toronto police spokesperson Constable Tony Vella said Monday. "Officers did seize items from the apartment ... There was evidence of drug use from the apartment." But Vella said he could not elaborate on what items police took because the matter was before the courts. Wendy Morgan, 36, who has lived in that Connaught apartment for about a year, said Hamilton and Waterloo regional police only took a round of ammunition and two scales she received from her uncle, who works in antique gold. Police did not follow up with her after the raid on Dec. 13, she said. According to a search warrant obtained by The Spectator, police were looking for text messages and documents linked to the gang Young Buck Killers (YBK) as well as weapons and drugs. Police were also searching for records of communication with Jamal Wallace, 21, a Toronto man who is now facing 20 charges including the possession and trafficking of cocaine. But Morgan said she does not who he is nor did she recognize a photo of a young man police showed her. The officers didn't even take her medicinal marijuana when they forcibly entered her apartment and turned over furniture, garbage, laundry and her Bob Marley posters that morning, she said. Vella said officers had six search warrants for Hamilton locations under Project Marvel, an Ontario-to-B.C. sweep targeting the YBK and another gang, the G-Siders. Last week, police admitted they got the wrong Melvin Avenue home that same morning when they raided Sharon McCrudden's apartment while their real target was a vacant unit next door. Pamela Markland, the resident at another search warrant target on Roxborough Avenue, says police also wrongfully targeted her home in those same raids. Police have said, however, they only got a single address wrong in the operation. Morgan has been in trouble with police in the past but said she got clean about 13 years ago before her son was born and converted to Islam seven years ago. The last time she was in jail was 1997, the mother of four said. The latest raid has shaken her up, making her afraid to go out and see people. Her door was ripped off its hinges and her dog, Diva, was so afraid, she defecated all over the apartment, Morgan said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.