Skip to content

'Bear Dude' sees marijuana charges dropped, keeps house

Allen Piche will not be charged with production and possession of marijuana and will keep his property at Christina Lake

The Christina Lake man fined for feeding bears last year has seen charges of production and possession of marijuana dropped.

Allen Piche and ex-wife Kathleen Wickie were charged with growing and possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking on their property after RCMP found a sizable amount of marijuana plants (over 800) while executing a warrant in July 2010.

Docile bears were found on the premises by police at the time.

However, a judge found discrepancies in RCMP testimony and the search warrant and had the charges dropped.

Piche, who has come to be known as the "Bear Dude," was happy that he no longer has to worry about the case.

“I’m very relieved by it all, it took a long time and I’m glad that it’s over and I can get on with my life,” he said.

A house on Piche’s property was destroyed by fire last August and while it was originally labeled as suspicious, the subsequent investigation found that it was not caused by a criminal act.

Piche stood to lose the property, as it was being used for unlawful activity, but it doesn’t look like the province’s civil forfeiture branch will seize it now.

“Once they found out I didn’t burn it, they just said, ‘You keep the property and just be a good boy for three years (probation).’ No bear feeding, no pot growing,” Piche explained.

Piche is currently in Ontario visiting relatives but will make plans to rebuild the house when he returns in the summer.

“It won’t be happening next summer, it’s going to take a lot of thought and clean up,” Piche said, adding that fences would have to go up to keep the bears out.



Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
Read more