The staff of Page Ahead, a children’s literacy non-profit in North Ballard, never expected an illegal pot garden with over 500 cannabis plants to be operating on the other side of their office wall. However, after an early morning burglary left a hole large enough to fit someone the size of one of their readers, that’s just what they found.

Seattle Police uncovered an illegal marijuana grow last Tuesday morning, April 12th, after investigating a burglary at the office of Page Ahead located on the 1100 block of N.W. 85th Street.

Police responded to a burglary in-progress report at 3:30 a.m.
After entering the building, officers noticed a large hole in the wall, which led them to an adjacent room filled with hundreds of pot plants.

Officers believe the suspect(s) broke into the Page Ahead office and tried to break through the wall in order to get to the plants in the commercial space next door.

Investigators believe there were only two plants stolen, however, police seized 531 plants from the illegal pot grow and are seeking its operators.

The Ballard News-Tribune contacted the landlord of the building, but he declined to comment on the incident.

No books were stolen from Page Ahead that morning, and police have no suspicion that the non-profit is linked to the illegal cannabis grow.

Stacey Lane, Office Administrator of Page Ahead, told the Ballard News-Tribune that when she showed up to work she found extensive damage done to the entry.

“The doors were totally bashed in; that’s how they entered the building. My boss and detectives were already here when I got here and you could see all the plants,” said Lane.

Lane has been working there for a year. She reported that there was an area near the restrooms where the suspect(s) attempted to break through the wall but were unsuccessful, leaving the wall damaged.

Along with Page Ahead, there are currently a bakery and a bike shop occupying the building. Page Ahead staff said that they had noticed a cannabis scent before the incident, but assumed it was from the nearby MMJ shop. There used to be a MMJ shop operating in the building complex called Crown Hill Collective. Lane said the shop owner took down its signs a month ago.

SPD could not confirm if the nearby MMJ shop was linked to the illegal grow.

Over 500 plants were found in the garden. SPD photo

Although no books were taken, Page Ahead suffered damages beyond broken doors and a child sized hole in their office wall; the shattered glass from the doors landed on the “book plates” (book marks with an adhesive strip) that they had planned to send to low-income children along with thousands of books. Glass shards are now stuck to the sticky side of the plates.

The non-profit sends low-income children across the state thousands of books at the end of each school year. The children get to choose 12 books to read over the summer. Page Ahead reports that allowing children to choose the books ensures their interest and the likelihood they will read them and return to school in the fall with the same reading ability as when they left class.

“We serve communities that don’t have libraries and children risk sliding backward in reading ability over the summer. … Our program helps narrow the achievement gap,” said Susan Waller, a fundraiser for Page Ahead.

“The saddest part was that the glass from the broken door went all over the book plates. … The books plates are a very important part of our program. Along with the new bookplates they (children K-2nd grade) receive brand new books and some of these kids have never received anything new in their entire lives. We can’t send plates with shards of glass stuck to them, so we are going to have to dump them and find all new book plates before May.”

Waller said that organizing and finding the funds for the new plates will be a challenge for Page Ahead, which consists of five staff-members, two of which are part time.