Carrum Downs plasterer John Nisi jailed for running cannabis crop house to fund video game career
A Carrum Downs plasterer wanted a new career creating video games but instead of rolling out the next Grand Theft Auto he’s in a jail cell after his “one-man” money-making cannabis racket went up in smoke.
South East
Don't miss out on the headlines from South East . Followed categories will be added to My News.
A Carrum Downs plasterer ran a “one-man” cannabis operation out of a Chelsea Heights home to fund his dream of becoming a video game creator.
John Nisi, 31, was sentenced in the County Court to a minimum four years jail after pleading guilty to cultivating a large commercial quantity of cannabis.
Nisi was nabbed after police raided his rented Jennison St property on September 19 last year.
Investigators discovered a sophisticated hydroponic system set up in five rooms which included watering systems, an electrical bypass, custom ventilation, and heat lamps.
Police seized 150 plants from inside the house and dried cannabis from the backyard shed.
Investigators simultaneously raided Nisi’s Carrum Downs’ home and seized 129gm of cannabis, a boxed Tag Heuer watch and $44,600 cash.
Nisi admitted he’d been growing “weed” since 2012 and the cash was the proceeds of an earlier harvest.
Nisi also told police he wanted to “give this activity up” and “start to live an honest life” just prior to his early-morning arrest.
Nisi said he taught himself how to grow cannabis via the internet and installed and funded the system himself through his plastering business.
“I wanted enough money to help everyone,” Nisi said.
The court heard Nisi wanted to forge a new career as a video game creator but needed the cannabis cash to fund his studies.
Nisi, who said he became addicted to gaming after his father died, knew his business was “dirty money” but figure it was the “way out” of his regular life.
“This was your criminal enterprise,” Judge Frank Gucciardo said.
“The monetary benefit was not going to be insubstantial …
“You chose to pursue a criminal path way of which risks you were aware, of which illegality you were conscious and the consequences of which you must have weighed in the balance when pursuing this enterprise.
“The easy way out the shortcut to security and financial security has been catastrophic for you and although you have not stepped into the world of organised criminality, your one-man operation stepped into a criminal offence considered of a very high order indeed.”
Nisi – who pleaded guilty to theft of electricity and dealing with the proceeds of crime – was jailed for a maximum six years.
Nisi – who had spent 343 days in custody – was ordered to repay $47,575 as compensation for the stolen electricity.
MORE NEWS
MUM'S 'HIV DREAD' AFTER PAEDOPHILE RAPED HER SON
THUGS ALMOST KILL MAN DURING GUTLESS MEAT CLEAVER ATTACK