MAN GREW POT WHILE AWAITING DRUG SENTENCE

KITCHENER -- As Duc Hoang Nguyen waited to be sentenced for his role in the
production of indoor marijuana in eight houses, he was caught again
producing pot in another residence.

Yesterday, the 23-year-old Brantford man was sentenced in Kitchener court
to one day in jail, on top of the five months he has already spent in jail
awaiting trial, after pleading guilty to producing marijuana at 65 Gunn
Ave. in Cambridge.

Police raided the house on April 24 and found 369 marijuana plants worth
about $370,000.

At the time of the raid, Nguyen was out on bail waiting to be sentenced for
his role in a major drug bust dubbed by police as Project Bypass.

He was one of five men who had pleaded guilty to conspiring together in the
production of indoor marijuana worth more than $1 million at eight
residences in Kitchener, Cambridge and Guelph.

Four of the five men received house arrest and a fifth man was given a
suspended sentence, followed by two years probation.

Federal drug prosecutor David Rowcliffe told Carr that when police were
raiding the Gunn Avenue residence in the Clemens Mills area of Cambridge
last April, they saw Nguyen drive by the house, slow down and then drive away.

Police followed Nguyen and when they arrested him, they found keys to the
Gunn Avenue house in his possession, Rowcliffe said.

"Obviously, Mr. Nguyen had the keys to the grow operation," he said.