Khuong Cu: Chelsea Heights dad jailed after crop house rentals raided across Melbourne’s inner east

A Chelsea Heights father of four who fraudulently rented properties as part of an inner east crop house monopoly has fronted court.

A Chelsea Heights dad has been jailed following the discovery of eight crop houses across Melbourne’s southeast. Picture: Generic

A Chelsea Heights dad who rented a raft of crop houses across Melbourne’s inner east has been jailed.

Khuong Cu, 40, was sentenced to five years behind bars in the County Court after more than 160kg of cannabis was uncovered across eight houses he rented from Burwood to Bentleigh.

The court heard the father of four was initially paid between $500 and $1000 by an unknown party to use a fake name and driver’s licence to pick up the first property.

He went on to rent houses in Bentleigh East, Burwood East, Clayton, Glen Waverley, Huntingdale and Mt Waverley.

A total of 850 plants were uncovered across all the rentals in a series of raids between May 2016 and July, with the most recent nab hauling about 150 plants weighing 30kg at Mt Waverley.

Cu, who was arrested in May, initially denied his involvement in the sophisticated scheme.

Later, he told police that he didn’t know what the first house was going to be used for, but caught onto what was happening “after a while”.

Cu did not take part in the maintenance or security of the crops, the court heard.

Judge Howard Mason said Cu, who migrated to Australia from Vietnam, was well-educated, had no priors and came from a law-abiding family.

He worked a number of factory and labouring jobs before falling into late night gambling binges on poker machines two years prior to his arrest, the court heard.

“You admitted you knew the intended purpose of the rentals after a while, however the use of an alias and false documents from the beginning suggests you were aware of the very likely, seriously likely illegal use from the start,” Mr Mason told Cu in sentencing on December 3.

“You knew what you were doing and the risk involved.”

Cu pleaded guilty and was convicted of cultivating a narcotic plant.

He was sentenced to five years’ jail with a minimum of three years, with 189 days spent in custody reckoned as time served.