Delta man arrested after pot edible found in child’s Halloween candy speaks out

DELTA (NEWS 1130) – A man and woman who were arrested in Delta after a pot product allegedly made it into a child’s Halloween candy are speaking out.

Adam and Vanessa Macgillivray’s illegal marijuana edible operation was also busted after a parent reported finding a cannabis edible in their child’s Halloween haul weeks ago.

The couple isn’t denying claims about their illegal drug operation, but the pair says they would never distribute marijuana to minors.

Adam says his family was inside all night and that he only left chips out in a box at the end of his driveway for trick or treaters.

“Now, somebody had went rummaging through the boxes that were at our front door, so that was roughly six feet past where the bowl of chips was out to the trick or treaters,” he tells NEWS 1130.

“What I think happened was there must have been one package of candy that was in there. We have kids of our own, we never — nor would we ever — distribute to children.”

According to the Delta Police Department, a concerned parent contacted officers immediately after finding the edible.

“Our officers were very concerned, of course, when this came to their attention and launched an investigation to see if they could determine the source of the candy, and see if they could trace the source of the candy, and locate who actually may have put this into the child’s Halloween bag,” spokesperson Cris Leykauf explains.

Thousands of dollars in dead fish

Police raided the Macgillivray’s home three weeks later, where officers found and seized thousands of edibles.

“The dwelling actually had quite a bit of significant cannabis production facilities within it,” Leykauf says.

“I’ve been in policing over 15 years and I’ve never actually seen a case where a Halloween candy led to an actual discovery of a cannabis lab such as this.”

Adam says the DPD mishandled the warrant, adding when officers raided his property and arrested him and his partner, police shut off the power to their home for the weekend.

As a result, he says the families collection of fish died.

“I have a very extensive amount of aquarium space, which I’ve lost between $3,500 and $5,000 worth of fish, including my daughter’s aquarium that she’s worked on for a year and a half now with her own money,” he says.

‘We’re not bad people’

Adam vehemently denies any intention to distribute edibles, and says if one ended up in a child’s Halloween candy, it’s not because he or any of his family members put it there.

“Maybe one parent that found something, and if that’s the case, then either the parent or the child has went rummaging through private property,” he says.

“We’re not bad people. We ID everyone from our website, we have kids of our own. I’m literally standing in my daughter’s room looking at her fish tank full of dead fish.”

Adding his family is devastated by what happened, Adam says there was simply no need for the response from police.

“My wife is licensed, which she was not allowed to recover her license to produce to the officers. Not only that, but they have taken her originals. My wife is legal to grow 144 plants. The address is on the Sunshine Coast, she is grandfathered in from the old MMAR licensing system,” Adam explains.

Meanwhile, Leykauf with Delta Police says she anticipates a number of changes will be recommended.

“We’re just really pleased that it was shut down because obviously distributing cannabis to minors is not something that we want to have going on in our community,” she says of the operation.