POT GROWER JAILED

A Red Deer man's decision to run a marijuana grow operation was a case
of greed, not need, said Court of Queen's Bench Justice Jim Foster on
Friday.

Foster sentenced Kim Thanh Diep to four and a half years in jail,
after listening to sentencing arguments from federal Crown prosecutor
Dave Inglis and defence counsel Lorne Goddard.

Diep, 45, was found guilty in January of possession of marijuana for
the purpose of trafficking and production of marijuana, following a
two-day Court of Queen's Bench trial.

The 900-plant operation came to light after Alberta Fish and Wildlife
officers went to Diep's property outside Red Deer to investigate a
report of illegal fish in tanks at the acreage.

He was subsequently convicted under the Wildlife Act of having illegal
fish and fined about $1,500.

Also, $10,000 worth of the illegal fish were destroyed.

The potential annual income from each of the three marijuana harvests
possible was estimated by an RCMP expert at the trial at between
$800,000 and $1.3 million each.

In his arguments for a sentence in the range between four and five
years, Inglis provided various past cases to the court.

He said he would characterize the scope of Diep's operation as being
intermediate to higher end.

An aggravating factor was Diep's conviction in 1994 for trafficking in
cocaine, said Inglis.

Diep was jailed for four and a half years for that crime.

Another aggravating factor, Inglis felt, was that Diep had no need to
break the law to make money.

"He was making a decent living and chose to take the dark path."

Defence lawyer Lorne Goddard argued for a conditional sentence for his
client, whereby he would be effectively under house arrest when not at
work.

He cited past grow-operation cases where conditional sentences or
shorter jail terms had been imposed.

Goddard said there was no evidence Diep is a danger to the public.

There were no buds on the marijuana plants seized, and they were near
the fish tanks which were subject to inspection by Agriculture officials.

That indicated how unsophisticated the operation was, said Goddard.

In addition, the building housing the fish tanks and the marijuana was
not a secure one, he said.

His client's cocaine trafficking conviction was 10 years ago, at a
time when sentences tended to be higher for similar offences than they
are now, said Goddard.

He supplied character references from employees and members of Diep's
family.

There was also a letter from his former parole officer.

It said she supervised him for 30 months and he was fully compliant
and very open but she thought him naive.

"He knew what he was doing," said Foster.

"He planned it, he executed it."

Diep was well aware what he had was an illegal drug operation, added
Foster.

"He may have had the intent, but he didn't have the skill," said Goddard.

"In reference to my friend's suggestion Mr. Diep is guilty of
stupidity, the pre-sentence report suggests the opposite," said
Inglis. "This man is anything but stupid."

He said Diep had been earning a living from a variety of jobs.

The marijuana operation was not out in the open, but secreted at the
back of the area containing the fish tanks, Inglis said.

The lack of buds on the marijuana plants could have been because they
hadn't reach that point in their development.

"Mr. Diep wasn't growing plants for the sake of growing plants," said
Inglis.

The lack of scales or other evidence of distribution at the location
probably meant the operation was just getting started, he added.
Justice Foster said he accepts that Diep is a hard worker and a
loving, caring parent.

"Having said that, it's incredible to me that he would carefully give
a lot of thought to getting back into this business, given his record.
"It was a conscious, deliberate decision on his part.

"I would describe this situation as greed, not need."

Had the grow operation been successful, there would have been a big
impact on the community, Foster said, in fixing the sentence at four
and a half years.