Former Pingaring farmer Craig Stone jailed after renting out shed for cannabis growhouse operation

A former Pingaring farmer already behind bars for stealing $250,000 worth of property from friends and neighbours has been locked up for another 14 months after police found a marijuana growhouse on his 10-acre property near Mandurah. More than 400 cannabis plants were discovered inside a large shed on Craig Vernon Stone’s land in Herron in December 2018. Perth District Court was told the 49-year-old had originally leased the property to allow his children to use it to store furniture, and to spend time with him there, but that that purpose was quickly hijacked when his partner’s friends asked to rent out the shed. For $50 a week, Stone allowed the group to run a hydroponic cannabis cultivation operation inside the rear shed. That amount rose to $200 once the grow house had been established, and Stone was regularly helping out with the operation by watering the plants and ensuring the lights were turned on. Judge Mark Herron said Stone’s involvement in cultivating the cannabis plants was “towards the lower end”, but that he’d had “some hands-on involvement” in the maintenance of the crops and had known that the purpose of the enterprise was to harvest and then sell them. The profit that could have been made from the crops ranged from $210,000 to about $1 million. He said the operation had consisted of a “moderate hydroponic set-up with a degree of sophistication and expense gone to purchase the equipment and set up the shed as a grow house”. Stone originally denied the single count of cultivate a prohibited plant with intent to sell or supply, changing his plea to guilty late on the first day of a trial in the District Court last month. The admission came after State prosecution revealed it had obtained text messages from Stone’s phone which confirmed his involvement in the drug-growing operation. Stone was first arrested on December 27 2018, after he and a friend stole $250,000 worth of property from neighbours and friends during a four-day Christmas crime spree in the Great Southern. The pair stole tools, prime movers, a truck, tyres, machinery, fuel, a $90,000 truck, a fridge and jewellery from their victims — farms and businesses in Pingaring, Wickepin, Newdegate, Kulin and Yealering. During a burglary in Newdegate the pair drove into fences and gates, causing $5000 worth of damage. They also looted the Pingaring Golf Club, stealing a lawnmower, quad bike, spray pack, weed cutter, esky, chest freezer, knife set, flat screen TV and an art sculpture. Many of the stolen items were stashed at Stone’s house on Old Coast Road, Herron, and found after it was raided by police. It was during that search that police located the 420 cannabis crops in a rear shed on the leased property. Prior to November 2016, Stone had a relatively minor record consisting of mostly traffic offences. But since then, he has been convicted of multiple counts of trespass, stealing, receiving stolen property — and now the cultivation of a prohibited plant. He has also breached multiple conditionally-suspended prison orders imposed by the District Court and the Fremantle Magistrates Court, landing him behind bars for 12 months in March this year. During sentencing last month, Judge Herron said Stone would not have shared in the profits of the 420 cannabis crops police found on his property, and that he had often been away visiting his father in Narrogin while the plants were being cultivated. But he said a term of imprisonment was the only available option to him, and that “it would be inappropriate to suspend” it. He sentenced Stone to 14 months in prison, with parole eligibility after serving seven.