(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)

An accused drug dealer facing multiple criminal charges is facing another court challenge as the province aims to seize her Clearwater house.

The BC Civil Forfeiture Office wants Jennifer Manuel's house, her truck and a combined $34,070 in cash seized from both, according to court documents.

While she is defending herself in both criminal and civil court, it's also the second time the province sought to take the home.

Jennifer Lindsay Manuel, born in 1983, owns the house with her brother Brian Dean Manuel. They successfully kept possession in 2022, but along with a $21,000 payment it came with the condition that it not be used for drug trafficking, money laundering or any other illegal activity, according to court documents.

Two years later, she ended up in police custody again after two search warrants. Among the things seized, police found multiple kilograms of drugs, guns and an SD card with potentially damning evidence, according to the claim in BC Supreme Court.

The civil forfeiture office claim suggests Manuel first caught Clearwater RCMP attention on March 3, 2024, at a "general roadside traffic check." She did stop, but an F-150 behind her fled the scene.

The pickup truck was later found abandoned. Police seized a drone, machete, hatchet and a bag with Manuel's medication and a loaded handgun magazine from inside. There was another bag with a clown mask, zip ties, hydrogen peroxide, duct tape and latex gloves, according to the claim.

There was also a trail camera with an SD card showing a video of Manuel and her boyfriend Steven Stuart Douglas Gardner. He was wearing body armour and holding a handgun while he and Manuel were "packaging and discussing the sale of controlled substances," according to court documents.

Clearwater RCMP searched her home at 183 Jenkins Road less than two weeks later. They found more than $30,000 in cash, weapons, ammunition, a smoke bomb, drugs and packaging material like bags and weigh scales. There was also nine cell phones and a income tax document that showed Manuel earned $12,000 in 2023.

Between the house and her 2012 Chevrolet Avalanche, police seized 225 grams of fentanyl, 1.6 kilograms of methamphetamine, 463 grams of cocaine and three kilograms of levamisole, a drug often used as a cutting agent, according to the civil forfeiture office.

On March 20, just days later, she was stopped again in Barriere by Kamloops RCMP. She was arrested in her 2012 Chevrolet Avalanche on outstanding warrants, and police found $1,340 in cash, score sheets allegedly tracking drug sales and 24.5 grams of the pain relief drug Phenacetin inside the vehicle.

Once in custody, police found nearly 27 grams of cocaine and a gram of meth in her possession, according to court documents.

The house, jointly owned between Manuel and her brother, was the subject of another civil forfeiture claim that began in 2020. A $21,000 payment to the civil forfeiture office in 2022 allowed them to keep the house with conditions.

One condition was the province would keep an "equitable interest equal to the current market value." They were also ordered not to use the house or allow it to be used for criminal activity, like trafficking, money laundering or tax evasion.

The civil forfeiture office claims the results of the searches constituted a breach of those conditions. It filed administratively to seize the house, the truck and the cash in December, but Manuel challenged the effort and voiced her interest in the items.

In response, the civil forfeiture office filed to the BC Supreme Court on Jan. 21.

In addition to the siblings' interest in the home, the claim also lists four other people as defendants due to their possible interest in it. Three are from Kamloops and one is from White Rock, but one of the Kamloops defendants is deceased.

As for Manuel's Chevrolet Avalanche, someone named Shelley Watt is also listed as a defendant. She is the registered owner, but Manuel is the "true" owner, according to the claim.

Manuel is facing several charges for trafficking and breaches of court orders following the searches, and she remains in custody. She was on bail at the time due to another set of trafficking-related charges, but that case remains ongoing.

None of the claims have been proven in court and none of the defendants have responded.

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