Pubdate: Thu, 08 Jan 2004 Source: Richmond Review, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Richmond Public Library Contact: http://www.richmondreview.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/704 Author: Martin van den Hemel ARMED GROW RIPPERS STRIKE OUT AGAIN For the second time in 18 days, an innocent family was victimized by a group of violent and armed thugs looking to steal a marijuana crop. On Friday, shortly before 7 p.m., an Asian couple were home with their teenaged son when a group of four or five men, armed with baseball bats and metal pipes, kicked down the front door to the older West Richmond house which the family began renting just last month. This incident comes less than three weeks after a couple living in an older house in central Richmond awoke to the sound of four men, brandishing handguns, kicking down their front door and walking into their bedroom while looking for marijuana. In these cases, the grow rippers (the term used by police to describe groups that break into homes looking to rip off marijuana growing operations) either got the wrong address or were a few months too late. The victims of both mistaken home invasions told their frightening stories to The Richmond Review on the condition their names and addresses not be published. On Dec. 15, a 35-year-old man and his 23-year-old wife were bound and blindfolded by four gun-wielding bandits who kicked in their front door shortly after 2 a.m. while the couple were sound asleep. "A gun was staring me in the face," the husband said of the incident, which left him shaky for several days. He recalls hearing the front door splintering, and almost instantly seeing the light in his bedroom flick on and the men at the foot of his bed and at least one gun pointed directly at him. He was struck in the head, causing a 10-stitch gash near his eye, after he began to yell expletives, demanding to know what the intruders were doing in his house. "Where's the weed, where's the money?" the men repeatedly demanded, the husband said. The couple's arms were bound and eyes covered with duct tape. But the house was empty, and shortly after the intruders checked the garage, they grabbed a few valuables, including a high-end stereo, cellular phone and some tools. "I always thought I was safe if I was home. Well that's gone. I was in shock for days." Though the incident hasn't scared the couple out of their house, "it's just sped up my schedule." The couple read in the newspaper two weeks later that the grow rippers struck again just across the street and a couple houses down the road, two doors away from an elementary school. Although the bandits targeted the correct house, they still came away empty-handed when the residents defended themselves. Police seized 21 pounds of dried marijuana from the home. In the more recent home invasion, a middle aged Asian man was sitting in his living room when he noticed someone moving outside his front door. Without warning, the door burst open and he was immediately pepper-sprayed in the face by a masked man, causing tremendous pain and blinding him. After he was ordered to lay face down on the floor, his wife, who was in the kitchen preparing dinner, was forced down and asked to point out where the marijuana was being grown. While one man stood outside the front door, the other three or four suspects searched the house, going floor by floor, checking each room and closet for marijuana. The couple's teenaged son was upstairs at the time and was also ordered to lay down and not move. After about 10 minutes, when it became clear to the suspects that the house was empty, they left, but not until they first sprayed the air near the front door with pepper spray and stole the family's passports and citizenship papers. "She's so scared now," said the mother's daughter, who was not at home at the time. "I think we're a little bit lucky nobody was hurt." On Sunday shortly before midnight, police believe the same grow rippers struck again, but this time in central Richmond, hitting a house at 8420 Spires Rd. The lone occupant of the home, a 26-year-old man, escaped through a second-floor window and was later arrested by police. He is facing drug-related charges. The grow rippers discovered a significant grow op in the house and fled with many plants. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom