JAIL URGED IN POT CASE

Grow-Ops 'A Threat To The Community,' Prosecutor Tells Court

A grow-house operator linked to the biggest marijuana bust in Windsor
history was found guilty in Superior Court Friday of cultivating and
possessing a controlled substance for the purposes of
trafficking.

Trung Kien Ha, 34, who lists both a Windsor and a Toronto address, was
also convicted on a third count of theft exceeding $5,000 for
bypassing the electrical meter to steal power to run the operation on
Acorn Crescent in Devonwood Meadows.

The house, which contained 480 marijuana plants, was among seven grow
operations shut down by Windsor police in 2004 following a seven-week
investigation. From the seven houses, police seized $5.5 million worth
of marijuana -- the largest bust in Windsor history.

Ha was among seven people -- all related through blood or marriage --
arrested.

Ha sat impassively as Justice Joseph Quinn spent the better part of an
hour recapping the massive amount of circumstantial evidence Windsor
police gathered.

Federal prosecutor Richard Pollock said some of the evidence, like
utility bills and house deeds found at Ha's Peter Street apartment
will be used in the upcoming prosecutions of his family members. His
mother and sister-in-law are scheduled to stand trial next.

Quinn released Ha pending his sentencing in June. Ha was ordered to
continue adhering to his bail conditions, including living on Janette
Avenue.

While Ha will seek a conditional sentence, Pollock said he wants Ha to
go to jail.

Pollock credited "diligent police work" for breaking up the drug ring.
The perpetrators went to great lengths to disguise ownership of
property and invented fictitious identities to throw police off the
trail.

"Clearly these grow operations are a threat to the community," said
Pollock.

"And I hope the courts, through sentencing, can communicate a strong
message to traffickers, especially those who come from Toronto to
Windsor for the sole purpose of committing these crimes."

At the Peter Street apartment where Ha lived, they found a number of
instruction booklets and pamphlets, some of them in Vietnamese,
related to marijuana plant growth.

The Acorn Crescent house was registered to Ha's father, Thanh Duc. The
father testified he rented the house to a David Lee.

But someone identifying himself as Lee and using a bogus social
insurance number had the utility bills for the home put into Lee's
name before the date the father testified he had ever met the man.

Paid utility bills in Lee's name were found in Ha's
apartment.

Ha's father lacked credibility, Quinn ruled. Given the fact the cases
"share common evidence," Pollock said Quinn's finding "doesn't bode
well for the father," said Pollock.

Ha's father stands trial later this year.