PRISON TERM BEGINS

Jason Ng Admits To Pot Production

In most facets of his life, Jason Ng was a productive, upstanding citizen.

There was just one problem: The large marijuana grow-op he was tending.

On Tuesday, 38-year-old Ng began serving a two-year penitentiary
sentence after pleading guilty to drug production.

Defence lawyer Robert Dick told Regina Provincial Court his client
came from China at age six and, like other newcomers to Canada, faced
challenges. In finding others of similar circumstances to bond with,
Ng met and became friends with Chun Yung Li.

Ng later went to technical school where he studied chemical
engineering, then found himself a well-paying job on the pipeline.

"However, things did not proceed in a particularly promising or
auspicious way following that," Dick said.

After several years on the pipeline, Ng left and found himself unable
to find comparable work. That's when Li came back into his life with an offer.

"It was more than that -- it was a bit of a seduction," Dick said.

Married and without immediate prospects, Ng accepted the offer. He'd
move into a house in Regina and look after a marijuana grow-op for a
year. For the work, he earned what Dick called "a stipend."

Ng, along with Li and co-accused Patrick Pak Hong Yeung, also earned
the attention of police.

Federal Crown agent Craig Neely told Judge Clifford Toth that police
conducted an investigation between February and April 2008, during
which time they observed the three men as they came and went from
several Regina residences and a business. The investigation led to
the arrests of the men and search warrants being executed on April
17, 2008, at all four locations, during which police uncovered a
large-scale grow-op, potentially worth over $2 million -- using a
conservative estimate.

In the search of Ng's house on Hammstrom Way, police found 893
marijuana plants in various stages of growth as well as 657 grams of
packaged marijuana and grow-op paraphernalia. Police also discovered
- -- as they did at the other houses -- that power had been bypassed.

Using a low-end estimate, Neely said the plants could have produced
approximately $356,000 worth of marijuana from one harvest. A search
at another residence turned up 805 plants -- worth an estimated $321,000.

Neely said growers can typically produce three crops a year,
potentially tripling those estimates on a yearly basis.

Police also found approximately $37,000 in cash and three bags full
of packaged marijuana during the searches, worth between $72,000 and $104,000.

On Tuesday, first-time-offender Ng apologized for his actions,
acknowledging that he'd hurt his family and his future.

"I don't want to come back here again," he said. "I'm really sorry."

Li -- who was higher up in the organization than Ng, but also had no
previous criminal history -- received a three-year sentence in July 2009.

Yeung will be sentenced on April 9.