WOMEN DENY 'CROP SITTING' DOPE

Two suspected drug cultivators were oblivious to the nearly $200,000
crop growing under their floor, a Calgary court heard yesterday.

Dung Kim Le testified she and her mother had no idea the man who was
renting the basement half of their northeast home was harvesting
marijuana plants.

But the Crown suggested Le and Thi Phu Dinh were "crop sitters" who
were well aware of the 265 plants growing beneath their feet.

Le, 39, and Dinh, 63, each faces charges of cultivation, possession
for the purpose of trafficking and electricity theft.

The stash had an estimated value of up to $198,000 if sold by the
pound.

Le testified she was planning on leaving her husband in the spring of
2001 when she ran into Ly Truong, a man she had never met before,
looking for accommodations.

She said they exchanged numbers and sometime later Truong called her
about renting a home at 108 Harvest Creek Cl. N.E.

Le then rented the home on July 15 and Truong moved into the basement,
she told defence lawyer Noel O'Brien.

After police raided the residence on Sept. 11, Truong's cell phone was
disconnected, she said.

"I know nothing about them," the Vietnamese native said through an
interpreter, about the plants.

"Did you ever go into the basement?" asked O'Brien.

"No," his client said.

But prosecutor Louise Proulx said Le and her mother would have to have
been aware of all the cultivation equipment brought in by Truong and
the changes he made to the home.

A verdict is expected today.