phillyBurbs.com / News / Local / The Intelligencer News
Related News:

Men charged in pot bust headed to trial
Cops: Slaying suspects didn't expect cameras
Cops: Fla. slaying suspects didn't expect cameras
Police looking for Honda Civic

* Most Emailed
* Most Viewed
* Most Discussed

Shoppers descend upon Walmart (20)

Good wife guide? (13)

Out with the old, in with the new (12)

Crash site called horrific (11)

Delanco man charged with sexual assault of child (9)

Shoppers descend upon Walmart (10559)

CR South grad killed in accident (1424)

Police News (1372)

Men charged in pot bust headed to trial (1111)

Cops: Pair endangered child's welfare (1069)

Go, Sarah, go (57)

Crash site called horrific (53)

In defense of Sotomayor (43)

Pa. swim club at center of controversy (41)

Replacing capitalism with socialism will destroy America (41)
Men charged in pot bust headed to trial
TEXT SIZE Increase text size Decrease text size
By: CHRISTOPHER RUVO
The Intelligencer

Two Philadelphia men arrested in one of the largest marijuana growing busts in Bucks County history are headed to trial.

Ottsville District Judge M. Kay DuBree ruled Thursday there is enough evidence against Van Tran Nghiep, 43, and Hung Tran Nguyen, 48, for them to be prosecuted in Bucks County Court.

DuBree made the decision following a preliminary hearing in which a county detective testified about the multimillion-dollar marijuana growing operation the pair was allegedly running inside a home on Mink Road in Bedminster.

"This is probably the largest marijuana bust in Bucks County history," said Prosecutor Daniel Sweeney.

In May, authorities seized about 200 pounds of marijuana from the Mink Road home and from a van following several months of investigation. Authorities said the marijuana has a street value of between $3 million and $5 million.

A. Charles Peruto Jr., Nghiep's attorney, said his client denies all wrongdoing. Peruto said Nghiep argues he was just a maintenance man who cut the lawn and did yard work at the property.

"He wants a trial," Peruto said. "He insists he did nothing wrong and that he did not know anything illegal was happening."

Nguyen's attorney, Patrick J. Egan, declined comment. Court papers state that it appears Nguyen, who is a Vietnamese citizen, is in the United States illegally. Nghiep was born in Vietnam too, but court records list him as a United States citizen.

The two accused pot growers face charges of manufacturing a controlled substance, criminal conspiracy and possessing drug paraphernalia. Cuffed and wearing prison fatigues, both men were still and quiet through the court hearing. They listened to the proceedings through a Vietnamese interpreter.

Bucks County Detective Michael V. Mosiniak testified that the residence on the 1400 block of Mink Road housed a large and sophisticated hydroponic marijuana growing operation.
Advertisement Click Here!

Mosiniak said the entire basement of the home was being used to cultivate marijuana. There were high-powered lights and walls lined with a silver material that intensified the heat of the lights to stimulate pot growth, the detective said.

Authorities found marijuana stalks in a freezer and dried marijuana plants hanging from ceilings, Mosiniak said. There were hundreds of plants in various stages of development, 50-pound bags of fertilizer and an air filtration system that was supposed to erase the potent smell of pot.

The investigation began in February after police received a report of a strange smell near the residence. Bedminster officers responded and detected a powerful odor of marijuana near the house.

Over the next several months authorities did surveillance at the home, discovering that Nguyen and Nghiep regularly came there but never stayed the night, Mosiniak said.

On May 31, Nghiep was arrested while driving a van that contained 33 pounds of marijuana, said the detective. A search warrant for the home was then obtained and the large cache of pot was discovered.

Nguyen and Nghiep remain incarcerated in Bucks County Prison. Sweeney said charges could also be filed against the pair in connection with another marijuana "grow house" in Chester County.

In an affidavit of probable cause, Mosiniak wrote that it is becoming increasingly common for marijuana dealers to buy residences and cultivate the plants inside them using sophisticated growing methods.

Christopher Ruvo can be reached at 215-345-3147 or cruvo@phillyBurbs.com.

July 17, 2009 02:30 AM







http://www.phillyburbs.com/news/local/t ... ial-1.html