Pubdate: Tue, 07 Jun 2005
Source: Windsor Star (CN ON)
Copyright: The Windsor Star 2005
Contact:  http://www.canada.com/windsor/windsorstar/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/501
Author: Doug Schmidt, Windsor Star
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mjcn.htm (Cannabis - Canada)

GROW-OP CALLED 'HAZARD'

A Forest Glade home converted to a marijuana grow house was consuming 
electricity at a rate comparable to nine homes of similar or larger size, a 
drug trial heard Monday.

"Was it a hazard to the public and the people there? Yes," Enwin Utilities 
employee Ray Forget testified in Superior Court.

Van Vuong Ha, 46, was charged with the production and trafficking of 
marijuana, as well as theft of electricity, after the Windsor police drug 
unit raided a home at 10170 Eastcourt Dr. Officers seized 672 pot plants -- 
about 100 of them a metre tall -- for which one drug officer gave a street 
value of $750,000.

Forget, who describes himself as an Enwin company "trouble man," testified 
the underground power line feeding into the home had been illegally 
bypassed to provide the energy needed for the high-intensity lighting used 
by the indoor grow operator.

The way the wiring was laid out and power was being directly tapped from an 
area transformer, "there's definitely a possibility of electrocution," said 
Forget, who estimated he's helped dismantle up to 25 city growhouses that 
tapped illegally into the power grid.

"This was a sophisticated grow, one of the higher-level grows," said 
another Crown witness, Sgt. Kevin Trudell of the city police drug 
enforcement branch.

Trudell said it was a "lucrative grow" set up by someone knowledgeable in 
the drug trade.

Drug squad Const. Robyn Moon testified two rooms in the basement were 
covered "floor to ceiling" with tin foil-type Mylar and that a grow 
schedule was posted on a wall, with instructions written in Vietnamese. She 
described the interior as dirty, with no signs that the home in a 
residential neighbourhood was being used as a dwelling.

Forensic officer Kevin Bleyendaal testified the home's windows were sealed 
with "heavy-duty black plastic" and that a large fan had been installed to 
ventilate air into the attic. Despite that, Bleyendaal said "a considerable 
amount of mould had developed on the ceiling upstairs," indicating 
longer-term use.

With a Vietnamese translator at the side of the accused, the drug trial 
before Judge Steven Rogin continues today.

Because of a high mortgage on the home, as well as the mould damage, 
prosecutor Richard Pollock said the Crown did apply under federal 
proceeds-of-crime legislation to have it seized.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager