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.