POT 'GARDENER' GETS HOUSE ARREST

A 51-year-old man who told a judge he was only the gardener at two
commercial marijuana growing operations in North Vancouver was put
under house arrest by a provincial court judge and ordered to repay BC
Hydro $15,000 for electricity stolen for the grow ops.

North Vancouver provincial court judge Carol Baird Ellan handed Guo
Jian Zhou an 18-month conditional sentence and placed him under house
arrest to the end of August for his role in looking after two grow
ops, at 1088 Arborlynn Dr. and 1677 MacGowan Ave.

On Feb. 10 last year, police seized 471 pot plants from the Arborlynn
house worth just under $400,000 and 421 plants from the MacGowan house
worth $350,000. Zhou, who was arrested at the MacGowan house at the
time of the raid, pleaded guilty to two charges of production of
marijuana and one charge of fraudulent consumption of
electricity.

The hydro account for the Arborlynn house had been in Zhou's name
since 2003.

Baird Ellan noted police began surveillance on the Arborlynn house
after getting an anonymous tip in April 2004. Zhou was seen at both
houses and two vehicles registered to him were spotted driving from
one house to the other.

Crown counsel Jack Whyte asked for a sentence of six to 12 months in
jail.

But Zhou's defence lawyer argued he should get a more lenient sentence
because he had only been hired to tend the grow ops. Other people had
been seen at the two addresses and there was no evidence that Zhou
either owned or rented either of the houses, he said.

Baird Ellan agreed that Zhou was not the main player in the operation
but added he was obviously more than "a mere gardener.

"The facts are equally consistent with the accused hiring himself out
to two different acquaintances or perhaps even just one, to assist in
their own home-based production," she said.

The judge also ordered Zhou to complete 50 hours of community work
service and to have no contact with Jie Ying Zhu and Kin Wa Nak, who
were both associated with either the MacGowan and Arborlynn houses or
the Hydro accounts at the time.

At the time of the raids, police deemed both houses unfit for
habitation because of the extensive damage done by the grow ops.