JAIL TIME FOR FALLS LANDLORD

Woman Pleads Guilty To Failing To Obey A No Occupancy Order

A Niagara Falls landlord will spend the next 60 days behind bars for
knowingly renting a toxic home to an unsuspecting family of five.

Shortly after the family moved in to the Arthur Street bungalow, the
children began experiencing health problems, including an unexplained
rash that was resistant to medications.

In Niagara Falls provincial court last week, Justice of the Peace
Carolyn Straughan was told their mysterious illnesses stemmed from
the fact the property once housed an elaborate marijuana growing operation.

"This was the worst of the worst cases we've experienced in terms of
the damage a grow-op can do and what they did to this innocent
family," said Jim Jessop, a fire inspector with the Niagara Falls
Fire Department.

Hoi Nguyen was placed on probation for 12 months and ordered not to
possess any hydroponic growing equipment after she pleaded guilty to
failing to obey a No Occupancy order.

Her husband, Huu Nguyen, was handed a 60-day jail term after pleading
guilty to failing to ensure activities that create a hazard were not
carried out in the building.

Lawyer Charles Rovan had asked for a 30-day sentence, saying the
couple's former tenants were responsible for the clandestine drug lab
and that Huu Nguyen had spent approximately $40,000 to make the home
suitable for habitation.

Straughan dismissed the plea for leniency, saying the cost to clean
up the property was "the cost of doing business as a landlord."

"They are the owners of this property and it appears they neglected
their responsibilities as the landlords," she said.

Niagara Regional Police scored a $250,000 pot bust after searching
the home in January, 2006. More than 360 plants, along with $15,000
in growing equipment, was seized.

As a result of the condition of the home, the city issued an unsafe
building order and a No Occupancy order against the property.

Fire officials learned the home had been rented six weeks after the drug bust.

Apart from a fresh coat of paint throughout the large four-bedroom,
three-bath, two-kitchen home, the building had not been property
remediated, as required by law.

The family had no idea their "dream home" was once a drug lab.

They were forced to leave it, and many of their possessions, as
everything was contaminated with mold and a dangerous combination of
chemicals that was left to rot on the floor after police raided the home.

The former tenant had used a bathtub to mix the chemicals - the same
bathtub the three children had been using.

"There had to be a punishment and it has to be severe," prosecutor
Anne Swayze said.

Rovan said his clients didn't know of the hazards caused by grow-ops.

"They are now," he told court.