TWO OFFICERS HONOURED FOR DESIGNING STING

Waterloo Regional Police Sergeant Daryl Goetz (left) and Regional Police
Sergeant Paul Lobsinger received merit marks at the Police Week Awards Night.

An operation to target marijuana home grows in the region resulted in a
merit mark Tuesday for two Waterloo Regional Police detectives who designed
the sting.

Detective sergeants Paul Lobsinger and Daryl Goetz proposed Project
Greenhouse after discovering a link between a number of home grows and a
gardening store in Kitchener that sold hydroponic growing equipment.

Their project concluded last year with 44 home grows smashed and the
seizure of at least $20 million in pot and growing equipment.

K-W Garden Supplies, located in Kitchener's Krug Street plaza, was linked
to Ba Thuan Tran, who appeared to run a network of grow operations
scattered between the Region of Waterloo and Toronto.

Tran, 57, was sentenced to 15 months in March for his role as leader of a
large, family-run marijuana-growing operation. One of Tran's sons was fined
for cocaine possession, while charges against seven other family members
were dropped in return for Tran's plea.

Last year, a judge ordered that six houses and two cars worth $1.25 million
owned by the Tran family be seized under federal proceeds-of-crime legislation.

The project proved so successful, home-grow busts in the region have
declined from about one a week to almost a rarity.

"It's still there," said Goetz, "but it's tapered off significantly. A lot
of the home growers have moved to the countryside."

In preparing to bring the pot-growing cases to court, the two law officers
compiled briefs and evidence amounting to a veritable paper mountain,
estimated at 18,000 pages.

The sting operation is now emulated in other jurisdictions as a "pioneer in
this sort of investigation," said Sergeant Patrick Smola, master of
ceremonies at the Police Week Awards Night, held at the Waterloo Police
Association Rec Centre.

The awards honoured 22 citizens and 14 police officers.