JAIL TERM URGED FOR POT GROWER

A Windsor judge rules today whether a local man, convicted of
operating a sophisticated marijuana grow house, goes to jail or is
sentenced to house arrest and ordered to preach the evils of pot to
his church congregation.

Hung Tuan Tran, a 29-year-old married father of two, pleaded guilty
this month to charges of marijuana production and trafficking and
hydro theft after police raided a Forest Glade home a year ago,
seizing drugs with an estimated street value of more than $400,000,
including 355 marijuana plants.

Prosecutor Richard Pollock argued at a Superior Court hearing
Thursday that Tran should be sentenced to a jail term of between 15
and 18 months.

Lawyer Frank Retar didn't disagree with that range but urged it be
served as a conditional sentence, amounting to house arrest.

Retar said "common sense would dictate" that if Tran were ordered to
give presentations to his church congregation on his crime, it would
have a deterrent effect on others.

"The person sitting before this court today is a good citizen," said
Retar, pointing to family members and his church pastor sitting in
the public gallery in support.

Retar read a letter by the pastor describing Tran as a "fine and
loyal parishioner" and an "irreplaceable member of our community"
who, despite holding two jobs and working up to 80 hours per week,
still finds time to help organize church events.

But Pollock scoffed at the recommendation of making Tran give church
lectures, as well as at the portrayal of Tran as a simple first-time
offender who suffered "a lapse of judgment."

"He wants to go to the community and tell how he got involved in this
- -- he's not even telling the court how he got involved," said Pollock.

In a pre-sentence report, Tran, who pleaded guilty to the charges
before a trial date was set, describes how he "became involved with
some negative peers."

They got him involved in gambling and then into setting up the grow-
op in his mother-in-law's home in order to get out of debt, he said.

Rather than suffering a simple lapse of judgment, Tran was either the
"principal mastermind of this grow-op" or he was "part of a criminal
network," Pollock said.

"It's aggravating no matter how you look at it," he said, adding the
hydro bypass required some planning and sophistication, and the grow
op's location in a residential area exposed neighbours to danger.