POT GROWER SENTENCED TO 15-MONTH JAIL TERM

A Toronto woman was sentenced to 15 months in jail Friday for
participating in one of Windsor's largest marijuana grow operations,
worth about $1.2 million.

"The last four years have been very hard for me," Dung Sau "Joanne" Ho
told Superior Court Justice Lynne Leitch as she expressed regret for
her role in the criminal operation.

"I've been working so hard," she said. "This is such an embarrassment
to me. I'm just asking, please, give my situation a chance to continue."

Ho, 35, a beautician who teaches at a private Toronto college, was one
of five people -- all from Toronto -- convicted of producing and
trafficking drugs in Windsor.

Police arrested seven people in June 2004, but prosecutors withdrew
charges against two people. The other members of the marijuana grow
operation were Ho's relatives, including her mother and two brothers,
who received sentences ranging from three years to 15 months.

Ho's case was the last one to be prosecuted. She was convicted on six
charges in November including two counts of producing a substance, two
counts of trafficking a substance and two counts of theft of
electricity. Only one defendant of the five pleaded guilty, the rest
had trials.

Ho, who came to Canada as a refugee from Vietnam when she was 20, said
in a pre-sentencing report that she bought a South Windsor home at 974
Lounsborough St. as an investment. Her mother, Anh Sy Hoang, was
supposed to find renters. When Ho discovered the grow operation, she
should have gone to police, but instead she kept silent, she told the
probation officer who wrote the report.

Crown attorney Richard Pollock, who asked for a 22-month sentence,
scoffed at Ho's claims of ignorance.

"Everyone appears to be a victim in this case," Pollock said,
referring to the other family members already convicted who also
claimed minimal responsibility for the grow operation.

"Was there any evidence there was a for rent sign on the property?"
Pollock said. "She cannot say she was a mere gardener when she had
ownership of the Lounsborough Street property. She's a resident of
Toronto and the only reason for being in Windsor is to commit crimes.
You needed an apartment on Peter Street because you needed a place to
sleep when you oversaw your investment."

Ho bought the Lounsborough Street home in March 2004, three months
before her arrest.

The property has since been sold and the crown is seeking a forfeiture
of $55,679, the proceeds of the sale. Ho also leased an apartment
under an assumed name where police found $9,000 in cash. Authorities
also took possession of a 1996 Toyota registered to Ho.

"The facts don't suggest the accused was co-opted, but instead equally
culpable as her mother," Pollock said.

Ho's mother Hoang was initially sentenced to 22 months, but the
sentence was reduced to 15 months on appeal.

In giving her decision, Leitch said she didn't think a conditional
sentence -- as proposed by defence attorney John Liddle -- was an
appropriate deterrence.