A Prince George woman has been sentenced to a one-year conditional sentence followed by six months probation for her role in running a marijuana grow-op in the city.
Because it took so long for charges to be laid, Kien Fang Cheung, 51, could have tried to have the case thrown out under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms but opted to maintain the guilty plea she entered on the first day of a trial that began in late April for her and two others.
"She wanted to accept responsibility and move on with her life," Cheung's lawyer, Ben Levine, told the court during a sentencing hearing Friday before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale.
Cheung, as well as Hsiao Chen Chen, 52, and Tak Cheong Ou, 53, were arrested Feb, 23, 2010, roughly two weeks after RCMP received a tip that a grow-op was being run out of a home in the 3600 block of Chartwell Avenue and launched an investigation.
RCMP who were conducting surveillance on the home saw Cheung and one of the co-accused pull out of the home's garage in a van that appeared heavily weighed down in the rear and drifting or swerving as a result.
Due to the manner of driving, police pulled the van over and found garbage bags full of marijuana stems and soil covering the back.
That was enough for RCMP to get a search warrant and, with the help of one of three remote garage door openers found in the van, they entered the home where they found 15 kilograms of marijuana bud and 513 fully-grown marijuana plants.
The value of the crop was estimated at $145,000 when sold at the wholesale level.
Investigators also found equipment to grow the plant, including 44 ballasts and capacitors, 12 high-pressure lights and two air conditioning units. They also noted a strong smell of marijuana from outside the home and found a hardwood floor in the home's main room appeared to be buckling from the moisture.
Cheung moved from China to Canada in 1992 and originally settled in Toronto and then moved to Prince George in 2005 following a divorce.
She became involved in the grow-op in part because her ex-husband had left Toronto in 2010, leaving her 16-year-old son by himself. Cheung used the proceeds earned from the grow-op to support her son, the court heard.
In issuing the sentence, Tindale agreed with a joint submission from Crown and defence counsels and noted she has no previous criminal records and has shown she does not pose a danger to society. Cheung's role was as a caretaker rather than a principal operator, he also noted.
Cheung's arrest predates the introduction of a mandatory minimum of two years for involvement in an operation growing more than 500 plants.
A conditional sentence is served at home rather than in jail with the person subject to various conditions including a limit on when the person can be off the property. The sentence allows the person to continue working.
The cases against Chen and Ou remain before the court.
.png;w=120;h=80;mode=crop)
