Whitby house explosion linked to cannabis oil production, suspect arrested: police
Posted November 7, 2018 4:14 pm.
Last Updated November 8, 2018 6:18 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A 48-year-old man is facing charges after a home in Whitby was heavily damaged in an explosion Wednesday afternoon.
Jody Cormier has been charged with arson, criminal negligence, and a charge under the Cannabis Act related to the production of a cannabis product.
Police tell CityNews there was no marijuana grow-op at the property and investigators believe the explosion happened when butane was being used in the production of cannabis oil.
Cormier was a resident of the home and one of three people who suffered minor injuries in the blast which occurred on Cedar Street near Garden Street and Dundas Street East around 3:30 p.m.
The other people injured were a man in his fifties and a visiting father in his seventies.
The house sustained significant damage during the blast, which neighbours say could be heard several blocks away.
A woman who lives on the main floor of the house, Johnna, tells CityNews she had just left to go pick up her seven-year-old daughter from school minutes before the blast occurred.
“I couldn’t even comprehend it. What do I do, who do I call, where do I go… I have nothing,” she said.
She has a pet pig named Bentley, who lives in the backyard. Bentley was supposed to be a miniature pig, but is now well over 200 lbs.
Late Thursday, it was learned that Bentley will be taken care of at a sanctuary in Orangeville.
Engineers have been called in to inspect the house and to determine if it is structurally sound.
