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A VIETNAMESE-Australian who racked up $220,000 in debt to gambling “associates” while playing blackjack at Crown Casino claims he started operating a cannabis grow house to help pay back the money.
Van Ri Nguyen, 60, pleaded guilty in the Bendigo County Court on Monday to a charge of cultivating a commercial quantity of cannabis, and the theft of power from Powercor.
The grow house in Romsey contained 163.5 kilograms of cannabis – six times the threshold for a commercial quantity.
The court a family member arranged the purchase of the property on Coleraine Drive in August 2015.
The family introduced themselves to neighbours and hosted a barbecue before Christmas, but Nguyen refused to allow them to see inside a shed at the back of the property.
In January, Nguyen asked a neighbour to set up a fence to stop dogs from entering their property. But suspicions were raised when Nguyen instead used shade sales to obscure the view of the shed, the court heard.
Four months later, Powercor contacted Romsey police claiming an electronic bypass was being used on the shed.
Police visited the area and spotted a 20,000 litre tank and connecting pipes at the back of the shed, along with a “buzzing” sound from inside.
They raided the property two days later, on May 25, and found more than 100 cannabis plants growing across five rooms and an attic in the shed.
The court heard Nguyen arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1989.
He developed a gambling habit in recent years and borrowed $220,000 from “associates” at Melbourne’s Crown Casino to fund his blackjack losses. He accumulated the debt in six months.
Nguyen did not have the capacity to pay back the money, so the associates proposed that he operate a grow house.
He has spent 285 days in custody, where he has studied horticulture.
Judge Paul Lacava said it unusual that Nguyen chose to purchase a $450,000 property in order to begin paying off a $220,000 debt.
“So Vietnamese heavies at Crown Casino tell him, you can reduce your debt by setting up a cannabis crop,” he said.
“In order to reduce this debt, he goes and spends $450,000 to set up.
“It sounds farcical to me.”
Judge Lacava said it was not a typical “crop sitter” arrangement, in which debtors are forced to sleep on the floor of a grow house for minimal pay to turn on switches and water plants.
Nguyen will be sentenced on Friday.