A year-long investigation culminated in a raid at a Forest Lawn home where police seized thousands of dollars in drugs and cash.
Officers with the St. Albert drug section and the RCMP emergency response team executed a search warrant at 4 Fenwick Cr. at around 11:45 a.m. on Dec. 18 and found piles of drugs and cash.
Const. Janice Schoepp, spokesperson for the local RCMP, didn’t get into specifics about what tipped police off about the house, but said it had been a long time coming.
“This has actually been an ongoing investigation for over a year, so they have just been compiling information and they finally obtained enough information for the search warrant.”
Inside the home police found two-and-a-half pounds of marijuana, a half-pound of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms, three ounces of ketamine and more than 200 LSD blotters.
Officers also found small amounts of ecstasy and cannabis resin, nearly $5,000 in cash and a collection of scales, baggies and cellphones, which are normally associated with the drug trade.
Schoepp said several people were in the home at the time of the raid, but were later released without charges.
Police did arrest one young man just prior to executing the search warrant and he is now facing a host of criminal charges.
Seizing such large quantities of drugs should put a dent in the local drug trade, but it will remain a problem in the community, Schoepp said.
“For St. Albert this is a pretty significant seizure.”
Tyler James Youzwa, 20 is now facing multiple drug charges and will make his first appearance on Jan. 18. He was charged with four counts of possession for the purposes of trafficking, two counts of simple possession and one count of possession of the proceeds of crime, under $5,000.
He was released on $7,500 cash bail with a number of conditions.
