Michael Craig Zander in the Rotorua District Court. Photo / File
Michael Craig Zander in the Rotorua District Court. Photo / File
A man who grew cannabis in two rooms of his home and stole power to run the operation was sentenced to 11 months of home detention in the Rotorua District Court yesterday.
Michael Craig Zander, 41, was also ordered to pay $20,000 reparation and forfeit more than $36,000 by JudgeGreg Hollister-Jones.
Police found up to $45,000 worth of cannabis and several thousand dollars worth of cultivation equipment when they raided Zander's Mangakakahi home last May.
They found Zander had been selling cannabis to associates since January 2015 and estimated he made $126,000 profit.
Michael Craig Zander in the Rotorua District Court. Photo / File
Zander previously pleaded guilty to cultivating cannabis, possessing cannabis plants and equipment to cultivate cannabis and theft to a value over $1000.
He kept quiet as he was sentenced yesterday, with his hands crossed.
His defence lawyer Jonathan Temm said his client was "41, in a permanent relationship, with four children, and an otherwise solid citizen".
His only previous conviction was from 21 years ago.
The police summary of facts said both of Zander's growing rooms were lined with reflectorised plastic, they had two large growing lamps and shades suspended from the ceiling, as well as pedestal fans and heaters.
A large extractor fan and filter was used to remove the pungent smell in the room at the rear of the property, and the room at the front of the property had two fans and filters.
The room at the back had 19 cannabis plants in large pots or planter bags, 14 of which were up to 70cm tall.
The other had 22 plants that were about 60cm tall.
Inside an office was a fridge freezer and chest freezer with nine plastic bags in total containing 3.23kg of frozen low-grade cannabis leaf, commonly referred to as cabbage.
In another plastic bag was 149g of loose high-grade cannabis head material as well as a sandwich bag packed with 20g of cannabis head material.
Receipts for equipment purchased dated back to 2004.
All transactions were in cash.
Zander modified the back of his power board so the power supplies to both garages were by-passing the meter and not recorded.
He told police he'd been growing cannabis for only two years and it was all for his own use.
Jonathan Temm said the estimates of stolen power were "pretty rough and ready".
He said Trustpower had turned on every appliance multiplied it by 24 hours and the number of years and came up with $33,000.
Temm argued the figure was more like $15,000.
Judge Hollister-Jones agreed the estimates were made "with the grow room going full lick".
Crown prosecutor Andrew Hill argued for a sentence starting point of three years uplifted by three months for electricity theft.
Judge Hollister-Jones made reductions for Zander's guilty plea, the $20,000 reparation payment, the instrument forfeiture of $36,933 from selling the house where the operation was based, good character and good prospects of rehabilitation, and Zander's 18 months already spent on bail.
He noted that Zander had "stopped using cannabis, and feels better and more clear-headed than he has in a while".
TrustPower general manager customer operations Fiona Smith told the Rotorua Daily Post stealing power was "reasonably rare" when Zander pleaded guilty last September.
"We work closely with the police should unusual patterns of usage occur. Retailers have a number of ways of monitoring usage and detecting anomalies that then lead to prosecution."
