Pubdate: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 Source: Windsor Star (CN ON) Copyright: The Windsor Star 2004 Contact: http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501 Author: Sarah Sacheli, Windsor Star Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada) GROW HOUSE SUSPECT CLEARED A Superior Court judge Tuesday acquitted a manicure shop owner on charges of operating a marijuana grow house, but said he's not convinced the man is not guilty. "I must go on the record to say I have the suspicion he did know what was going on," Justice Gordon Thomson said. Minh Chau Van, 33, owner of Modern Nails in Central Mall, paid the rent on a three-bedroom home at 936 Bruce Ave. that was raided by police in July 2002. In their search, police found 103 marijuana plants with an estimated street value of $132,000. There was no food in the fridge, furniture, clothing or other personal effects that indicated anyone was living in the home. The owner of the building said Van came to him to rent the house for his cousin. The landlord said Van introduced himself as Joe Duc. But Van, speaking through a Vietnamese interpreter, told the court his cousin moved out and he allowed students who were apprenticing at his nail shop to stay in the home. TESTIMONY DOUBTED But Thomson said he didn't believe Van's testimony. Van said he paid the students' $900 rent, but never deducted it as a business expense on his taxes. Van said covering rent for employees in training is standard in the nail business. He did not record the names of the students anywhere in his business documents. Around the same time as the raid on the Bruce Avenue home, police busted another marijuana grow operation in a home at 2962 Clemenceau Blvd. owned by Van's common-law wife, Tu Muoi Ho. The woman, the mother of Van's two children, pleaded guilty to possession and production of marijuana and was fined $5,750 and placed on probation for two years. Thomson also noted Van's criminal record which included a conviction in British Columbia for drug trafficking. Bob DiPietro, Van's lawyer, said there was no evidence that directly tied Van to the Bruce Avenue home. "There was some circumstantial evidence," he said, but none that proved the marijuana belonged to him. Two police informants implicated another man named Trung Nguyen in whose name utility bills existed and whose fingerprint was lifted off the bulb of a grow light. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek