A 31-year-old mother of two who was charged with three criminal offences after police found a 405-marijuana-plant grow-op in her basement received a one-year conditional sentence Wednesday.

Lan A. Nguyen and her husband Anh T. Huynh were both charged with fraudulently consuming electricity or gas, possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of a controlled substance after Ridge Meadows RCMP executed a search warrant on their Maple Ridge home on July 16, 2008.

RCMP were alerted to a possible grow-op there after receiving a fax from BC Hydro about electricity theft at the residence.

When police arrived at the residence they found Nguyen and her two young children. After questioning the children, police learned their father was also in the house. He was found hiding in the basement. Police then found 405 marijuana plants in a crawl space. Their value was estimated to be between $51,000 and $96,000.

After police executed the search warrant and found the pot plants, the two children were seized and turned over to the Ministry of Children and Family Development. The children have since been returned to their parents.

Court heard that Nguyen is an immigrant from Vietnam who moved to Canada to be with her husband whom she met when he returned to Vietnam for a vacation.

Her defence lawyer said part of the motivation for the crime was to send money home to her family in Vietnam. Her lawyer also noted that Nguyen and her husband were only acting as "gardeners" of the plants, not the owners.

Nguyen is now a manicurist in Vancouver and her husband is a painter.

Provincial court judge Marion Buller Bennett noted Nguyen entered an early guilty plea, had no prior criminal record and was only "acting as a caretaker" of the plants. As well, no weapons or other drugs were found. She said Nguyen posed "minimal risk" to the community and the fact that her children were removed after she was caught operating a grow-op would act as a "deterrent."

© 2004 H.U.M.A.N.: Hemp Users Medical Access Network - Toronto Medical Marijuana