Gregory Samuels pleads guilty in Dandenong Court after being caught stealing power to grow cannabis plants
A former Springvale concreter has argued he was simply growing, drying and packaging cannabis in zip lock bags to turn it into oil to fight his knee and back pain.
South East
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A Springvale man was busted growing cannabis throughout his home when police stumbled across the plants in an unrelated raid.
Gregory Samuels, 64, pleaded guilty in the Dandenong Magistrates’ Court on August 13 to drug trafficking, electricity theft, cultivation and possession charges.
In an earlier July court hearing, prosecutors said Samuels had been stealing electricity from United Energy for more than two years, using it to growing multiple cannabis plants inside his southeastern home.
Samuels was using a power bypass tool, commonly used by people running crop houses, to avoid detection by power companies.
In a raid over an unrelated matter on September 4 last year, police officers discovered and seized multiple plants of the sativa variety, as well as a machete, a slingshot and a large amount of cash.
Initially, United Energy had valued the stolen electricity around $5000 but in Tuesday’s hearing it was increased to $21,627 over the two year period.
Police also claimed messages on Samuels’ phone demonstrated an intent to distribute cannabis, 9kg of which had been found packaged, dried and stored in zip-lock bags “ready for sale”.
Samuels’ lawyer George Vassis said his client only harvested the cannabis to “make oil”.
“He was a concreter for many years and has continuing knee and back pain from injuries that happened during that time,” Mr Vassis said.
“He has been making cannabis oil for personal use as a means for pain management.”
Mr Vassis said Samuels’ offending didn’t demonstrate the “usual hallmarks of trafficking”, arguing it was on the lower level of offending for the charge.
However, Magistrate Frances Medina noted the “effort” of Samuels’ operation.
“It’s quite structured,” she said.
“There’s a level of sophistication and planning the plant cultivation.”
Samuels was sentenced to 50 hours of community work over an 18 month period without conviction.
He was also ordered to pay back $5000 for the stolen power.
