Dope grower stole power

A Rotorua engineer has narrowly avoided jail for cultivating cannabis and stealing power to do so.
Timothy Christian Pauli, 42, appeared in the Rotorua District Court to be sentenced on a charge of cultivating cannabis and stealing nearly $1000 of electricity before Judge Chris McGuire yesterday.
He was sentenced to five months' home detention and 200 hours of community service.
The charges relate to Pauli growing 12 cannabis plants in a hidden room at his Ngongotaha home and stealing electricity from TrustPower Ltd.
Pauli admitted the charges in June but was found not guilty by a jury of cultivating cannabis with the intention to sell. His lawyer, Harry Edward, said Pauli had no previous convictions and was respectable citizen.
Judge McGuire said Pauli was entitled to the benefit of the jury's verdict and should consider himself lucky because "everything else suggests that: A, you were in it for the long haul and B, you were commercial".
"I don't want you to go away thinking that everyone accepts this is a personal use operation and that the worse anyone will get is a similar sentence that you are going to receive. You come very close to being sent to prison because that normally follows a conviction of cultivation operation of this size and sophistication. I am influenced not to do that by the jury's verdict."
Judge McGuire said he was found with 722 grams of cannabis and used 6-7 grams a day.
He said there was also a level of sophistication in his growing operation having a charcoal extractor, scales and deal bags.
A pre-sentence report stated Pauli bypassed the power because mortgage pressure meant he couldn't afford to buy cannabis, which he used for pain relief after fracturing his spine.