'Debt, exploitation and a dirty mattress on the floor': the sad life of a cannabis crop sitter

The Advertiser

09-05-2025

A VIETNAMESE national who lost his job, overstayed his visa and borrowed money from loan sharks before he was "exploited" into acting as a crop sitter at a Muswellbrook hydroponic cannabis grow house will be out of jail next week.
Van Moui Nguyen, 56, slept on a mattress slumped in a room of the house in Midanga Avenue that was otherwise entirely "dedicated" to a million dollar cannabis cultivation and supply operation.
There were seven rooms, 188 cannabis plants, 1.4 kilograms of cannabis leaf, a large electrical power board, 136 transformers, 13 exhaust fans, 101 lamp shades and heat lamps and pipes running throughout the house, leading from the pot plants to a pump in the laundry and bathroom.
Police said the plants were worth $550,000 on the street while the cannabis leaf had an estimated potential street value of $460,000.
Investigators had figured the house was being used to grow cannabis because neighbours had been able to smell it from outside.
Once they opened the door, the stench hit them in the face.
Nguyen had earlier this year pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying cannabis over his role at the bottom of the chain in the operation.
Judge Roy Ellis said on Friday that, in his experience, crop sitters take on all of the risk for very little reward and when police come knocking they're the ones left holding the bag while those higher up the chain are almost never arrested.
He said Nguyen had been "essentially taken advantage of" and exploited by organised crime figures who had set up the crop.
He said the 56-year-old had been sponsored by an employer and come to Australia on a visa five years ago.
But after three months that company "ceased to exist" and he was left on a farm with other migrant workers.
He was struggling financially, spoke very little English and was in Australia illegally after his visa expired when he was approached and asked to take care of "some plants".
"Coming from a farming background in Vietnam, he said yes to that although it is clear that he did realise at the end of the day that what he was doing was tending to cannabis plants and that was illegal," Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said a psychologist had opined that Nguyen's decision to take on the crop sitting job needed to be understood within the context of his significant financial hardship, unstable visa status, linguistic barriers and psychological vulnerability.
He found Nguyen could be given essentially time served, sentencing him to a maximum of two years in jail, with a non-parole of 12 months, which will expire next week.
A VIETNAMESE national who lost his job, overstayed his visa and borrowed money from loan sharks before he was "exploited" into acting as a crop sitter at a Muswellbrook hydroponic cannabis grow house will be out of jail next week.
Van Moui Nguyen, 56, slept on a mattress slumped in a room of the house in Midanga Avenue that was otherwise entirely "dedicated" to a million dollar cannabis cultivation and supply operation.
There were seven rooms, 188 cannabis plants, 1.4 kilograms of cannabis leaf, a large electrical power board, 136 transformers, 13 exhaust fans, 101 lamp shades and heat lamps and pipes running throughout the house, leading from the pot plants to a pump in the laundry and bathroom.
Police said the plants were worth $550,000 on the street while the cannabis leaf had an estimated potential street value of $460,000.
Investigators had figured the house was being used to grow cannabis because neighbours had been able to smell it from outside.
Once they opened the door, the stench hit them in the face.
Nguyen had earlier this year pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying cannabis over his role at the bottom of the chain in the operation.
Judge Roy Ellis said on Friday that, in his experience, crop sitters take on all of the risk for very little reward and when police come knocking they're the ones left holding the bag while those higher up the chain are almost never arrested.
He said Nguyen had been "essentially taken advantage of" and exploited by organised crime figures who had set up the crop.
He said the 56-year-old had been sponsored by an employer and come to Australia on a visa five years ago.
But after three months that company "ceased to exist" and he was left on a farm with other migrant workers.
He was struggling financially, spoke very little English and was in Australia illegally after his visa expired when he was approached and asked to take care of "some plants".
"Coming from a farming background in Vietnam, he said yes to that although it is clear that he did realise at the end of the day that what he was doing was tending to cannabis plants and that was illegal," Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said a psychologist had opined that Nguyen's decision to take on the crop sitting job needed to be understood within the context of his significant financial hardship, unstable visa status, linguistic barriers and psychological vulnerability.
He found Nguyen could be given essentially time served, sentencing him to a maximum of two years in jail, with a non-parole of 12 months, which will expire next week.
A VIETNAMESE national who lost his job, overstayed his visa and borrowed money from loan sharks before he was "exploited" into acting as a crop sitter at a Muswellbrook hydroponic cannabis grow house will be out of jail next week.
Van Moui Nguyen, 56, slept on a mattress slumped in a room of the house in Midanga Avenue that was otherwise entirely "dedicated" to a million dollar cannabis cultivation and supply operation.
There were seven rooms, 188 cannabis plants, 1.4 kilograms of cannabis leaf, a large electrical power board, 136 transformers, 13 exhaust fans, 101 lamp shades and heat lamps and pipes running throughout the house, leading from the pot plants to a pump in the laundry and bathroom.
Police said the plants were worth $550,000 on the street while the cannabis leaf had an estimated potential street value of $460,000.
Investigators had figured the house was being used to grow cannabis because neighbours had been able to smell it from outside.
Once they opened the door, the stench hit them in the face.
Nguyen had earlier this year pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying cannabis over his role at the bottom of the chain in the operation.
Judge Roy Ellis said on Friday that, in his experience, crop sitters take on all of the risk for very little reward and when police come knocking they're the ones left holding the bag while those higher up the chain are almost never arrested.
He said Nguyen had been "essentially taken advantage of" and exploited by organised crime figures who had set up the crop.
He said the 56-year-old had been sponsored by an employer and come to Australia on a visa five years ago.
But after three months that company "ceased to exist" and he was left on a farm with other migrant workers.
He was struggling financially, spoke very little English and was in Australia illegally after his visa expired when he was approached and asked to take care of "some plants".
"Coming from a farming background in Vietnam, he said yes to that although it is clear that he did realise at the end of the day that what he was doing was tending to cannabis plants and that was illegal," Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said a psychologist had opined that Nguyen's decision to take on the crop sitting job needed to be understood within the context of his significant financial hardship, unstable visa status, linguistic barriers and psychological vulnerability.
He found Nguyen could be given essentially time served, sentencing him to a maximum of two years in jail, with a non-parole of 12 months, which will expire next week.
A VIETNAMESE national who lost his job, overstayed his visa and borrowed money from loan sharks before he was "exploited" into acting as a crop sitter at a Muswellbrook hydroponic cannabis grow house will be out of jail next week.
Van Moui Nguyen, 56, slept on a mattress slumped in a room of the house in Midanga Avenue that was otherwise entirely "dedicated" to a million dollar cannabis cultivation and supply operation.
There were seven rooms, 188 cannabis plants, 1.4 kilograms of cannabis leaf, a large electrical power board, 136 transformers, 13 exhaust fans, 101 lamp shades and heat lamps and pipes running throughout the house, leading from the pot plants to a pump in the laundry and bathroom.
Police said the plants were worth $550,000 on the street while the cannabis leaf had an estimated potential street value of $460,000.
Investigators had figured the house was being used to grow cannabis because neighbours had been able to smell it from outside.
Once they opened the door, the stench hit them in the face.
Nguyen had earlier this year pleaded guilty to knowingly taking part in the cultivation of a commercial quantity of cannabis and supplying cannabis over his role at the bottom of the chain in the operation.
Judge Roy Ellis said on Friday that, in his experience, crop sitters take on all of the risk for very little reward and when police come knocking they're the ones left holding the bag while those higher up the chain are almost never arrested.
He said Nguyen had been "essentially taken advantage of" and exploited by organised crime figures who had set up the crop.
He said the 56-year-old had been sponsored by an employer and come to Australia on a visa five years ago.
But after three months that company "ceased to exist" and he was left on a farm with other migrant workers.
He was struggling financially, spoke very little English and was in Australia illegally after his visa expired when he was approached and asked to take care of "some plants".
"Coming from a farming background in Vietnam, he said yes to that although it is clear that he did realise at the end of the day that what he was doing was tending to cannabis plants and that was illegal," Judge Ellis said.
Judge Ellis said a psychologist had opined that Nguyen's decision to take on the crop sitting job needed to be understood within the context of his significant financial hardship, unstable visa status, linguistic barriers and psychological vulnerability.
He found Nguyen could be given essentially time served, sentencing him to a maximum of two years in jail, with a non-parole of 12 months, which will expire next week.