FARMERS WHO RAN HUGE GROW-OP SENTENCED

BARRIE -- Seven men who were described as the farmers who ran the
largest marijuana operation ever found by police in Canada were given
sentences ranging from two to five years yesterday.

"I see no heroism or merit in jail sentences to federal or provincial
reformatory or even house arrest," Ontario Court Judge James Crawford
said as he imposed the sentences that had been negotiated between
federal prosecutor Karen Jokinen and defence lawyer Randall Barrs, who
represented all of the accused.

Before the sentencing, Mr. Barrs had suggested that the accused had
acquired the status of local heroes for running the grow-op in a
former Molson brewery, which had not been detected for two years even
though it was next to one of Ontario's busiest highways.

"That doesn't mean their actions are heroic. It just emphasizes the
fact that there are a lot of people that do not feel that marijuana
possession should be criminal, and from that, the only logical step is
that production should not be criminalized," Mr. Barrs told reporters
after the sentencing.

When police raided the grow-op in January, nine men fled in three
vehicles. Nine suspects were subsequently arrested, but the charges
against two of them were later dropped.

Faced with overwhelming forensic evidence, including fingerprints that
placed them in the grow-op, which was operated in 55,000 of the
400,000 square feet in the old brewery rented by two dummy companies,
the remaining seven each pleaded guilty to both producing marijuana
and possessing it for the purposes of trafficking.

One defendant, Michael DiCicco, who lived at the site in the old
retail store and who was president of one of the dummy companies, was
given a sentence that will mean that he will, in effect, serve five
years under house arrest.

Judge Crawford said he accepted medical evidence that indicated that
Mr. DiCicco, 61, a diabetic who suffered a heart attack while in
custody after his arrest, could die if he were required to serve
prison time.

Consequently, he was given a conditional sentence of two years less a
day, during which he will be required to stay at home for all but two
hours a week unless he leaves for medical or legal reasons, followed
by a three-year probation under similar terms.

Two of the other defendants, Robert Bleich of Stayner and Scott Walker
of St. Catharines, were sentenced to five years in federal prison.

Rayne Sauve of St. Catharines and Thomas Gates of Corunna, just south
of Sarnia, received four years in federal prison, and Craig Walker of
Niagara Falls was sentenced to 3 1/2 years.

Scot Dillon of Toronto was sentenced to two years less a day in
provincial reformatory plus three years of probation.

Mr. Barrs said that it was expected that some of the accused would
receive substantial sentences and that if the judge were lenient, the
sentences would likely be overturned on appeal.

He defended the sentencing by noting that the charges were withdrawn
against two of the defendants, Mr. DiCicco avoided going to jail, the
youngest defendant, Mr. Dillion, received a short jail term, and the
Crown avoided the cost of a lengthy trial.

Ms. Jokinen, the prosecutor, said that the sentences showed that the
courts are not going to allow people to make a business of growing
marijuana.

"This was the biggest discovered marijuana grow operation in all of
Canada. . . . These particular persons who pled guilty were persons
who one person indicated were the farmers. But without them, the
marijuana is not grown," she said.

While the sentences put the farmers in jail, the police still have not
arrested those who benefited the most from the operation, which,
police estimated, produced marijuana with a value between $8.6-million
and $60-million a year.