Photo: Eric Limon/ 1234RF
- Michael John Heron and Hayley Lewis are fighting to prevent the Crown from taking their two properties worth $1.7 million.
- Police raided Heron's property in 2020, shutting down a cannabis-growing operation and seizing $153,000 in cash.
- The couple plan to appeal a High Court order on multiple grounds, including the future impact it will have on their young daughter.
A couple say they will fight to stop the Crown from taking ownership of two properties, worth $1.7 million, after one of them was caught growing cannabis for the sake of their daughter who has now "lost her future".
Police raided one of Michael John Heron's North Canterbury properties in September 2020, shutting down a "commercial scale" hydroponic cannabis-growing operation and seizing more than $153,000 in cash.
Now, police have moved in to confiscate that property at Fernside in the Waimakariri district, and another at Waikuku which Heron and his partner Hayley Lewis own as an investment. Together, the two properties have council ratings valuations totalling $1.7m.
Police say both pieces of real estate were "tainted" by Heron's illegal activities, which a forensic accountant estimated had netted him $1.28m between 2013 and 2020.
They have recently obtained a High Court order under which the couple lost both properties - forfeited under the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act 2009.
The court order allows the couple to keep $147,000, which Lewis, who had no criminal charges and no criminal history, had contributed to the mortgage and upkeep of the properties from her legitimate full-time employment.
But ownership of the properties themselves is now due to be transferred to the Crown.
The Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act is often used against gangs and organised crime groups, separating criminals from the assets they build up through illegal activity.
It is common for forfeiture orders to be obtained without resistance from the people they are targeting.
But Heron and Lewis opposed the forfeiture order at a hearing in February and say they now will take their case to the Court of Appeal, attempting to have it overturned.
Their lawyers say the appeal is being prepared on "multiple grounds".
"We lose everything we own," Heron said in response to the forfeiture order issued by Justice Lisa Preston this month.
Lewis said they were mounting the appeal for their 3-year-old daughter, "who has lost her future through this decision".
Heron admitted cultivating cannabis in 2021 and served 12 months of home detention for his growing enterprise.
He then turned his skills to start a legitimate business, building up a "micro-greens" growing facility providing edible vegetable sprouts using similar methods to his former cannabis operation.
Raid found 331 cannabis plants
When Heron was raided in 2020, officers found 331 cannabis plants in four different stages of cultivation in four grow rooms or tents.
The bust came about a month before the 2020 nationwide referendum on whether to legalise recreational cannabis. The referendum was narrowly defeated and a draft Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill did not proceed.
When he was first arrested, Heron claimed he had only undertaken one successful grow to supply cannabis oil "for medicinal purposes" in anticipation of a legislative change to permit this.
On the day of the search, Lewis told police that she "knew something was going on, but not the extent", court documents say.
Police said, however, that Heron had been using four times the daily average electricity use for years to power his grow rooms.
Since June 2016 he had consumed more than 100kWh (units) per day. Over a four-month period in the spring and summer of 2015, his power bill came to $3483.
Police said Heron had fitted out a five-bay garage next to his house to accommodate the commercial-scale hydroponic cannabis-growing operation.
Equipment found included heat pumps and air conditioners, water and nutrient supply systems and a carbon dioxide pump.
"Cash and electronic funds derived from Mr Heron's criminal activity were regularly paid into the couple's joint bank account, and used to pay the mortgages," according to the High Court order.
In the walk-in wardrobe of the couple's bedroom, police found $153,860 - in total, 3238 banknotes neatly bundled up into $10,000 packages - in two lock boxes on a shelf.
Heron acknowledged the cash was derived from illegal activity but denied that any of his real estate was "tainted" in terms of the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act.
Heron and Lewis remain in the Fernside property while their appeal is being prepared, with Heron running the micro-greens business from the growing facilities.
If they have to leave, they will be allowed to take the hydroponic growing equipment with them.
"In that sense, forfeiture will be ameliorated as that equipment will remain available to continue what I accept is a rehabilitative operation and step," Justice Preston said.
-This story originally appeared in the New Zealand Herald.