YEAR IN JAIL FOR WEED AND FEED OPERATOR

Marijuana Was Growing in Williamsford's The Mill Restaurant As People
Were Dining Below

The restaurateur who converted the second floor of The Mill restaurant
into a marijuana growing operation, even as people were dining below,
was sentenced to one year in jail Tuesday in the Ontario Court of Justice.

Robert Frehner, 67, most recently of Sauble Beach, pleaded guilty on
Nov. 24 to growing marijuana at the former feed mill in Williamsford,
south of Owen Sound.

Though Frehner's lawyer, Brian Barrie, argued for a conditional
sentence or house arrest, Justice Julia Morneau said that wouldn't fit
the crime. She called jail "the only fit sentence in this case."

Morneau said Frehner's motive was greed and while he was enticed into
the drug business by someone referred to in court only as "Mr. Big,"
Frehner contributed substantially to the drug-growing operation.

Mr. Big also promised to buy the restaurant from Frehner, who still
has it for sale.

Police recovered live plants and packaged marijuana worth between
$330,000 and $424,000, police estimated.

They also seized 46 high-intensity lights, an air exchanger, fans,
garbage bags and vacuum-packaging equipment. There were how-to manuals
for growing pot in Frehner's Williamsford home, plus fertilizer and
ledgers charting the growth of the plants.

There were four grow rooms in The Mill, which generated some of its
own electricity through a stream-powered turbine on site, though lots
of power was also drawn from the grid.

Morneau said Frehner was co-operative with police, had no criminal
record, is no longer a risk to the community and he has learned his
lesson. But she also said the operation was a commercial one and they
aren't welcome in Grey County.

The venture could have produced so much money for Frehner he wouldn't
have had to work outside the mill, she said.

"I grow increasingly concerned about the prevalence of grow operations
and the inability to stem the tide."

Marijuana production began at The Mill in March, 2003, after Frehner
was approached by an unidentified person. Frehner was promised $1,000
per pound of marijuana grown. He was paid $60,000 and was owed another
$20,000 from earlier harvests. The Mill was producing a regular
harvest by last winter.

Mr. Big tutored Frehner and wired the grow lights. Frehner was "under
the control of Mr. Big," Barrie told Morneau on Nov. 24. The sentence
includes forfeiture of the marijuana and grow equipment and, for the
first time in Grey County, $80,000 from the proceeds of the sale of
The Mill property will go to the Crown.

A Superior Court justice granted an order which allowed the Crown to
manage the property and put conditions on its sale. The amount was
negotiated between Barrie and a specialist with the Department of Justice.

Cornelia Laeubli, who was 26 and living in Owen Sound when she was
also arrested, was charged with production of marijuana and with
possession for the purpose of trafficking. She is scheduled to be in
Owen Sound court on Dec. 22.

Federal Crown attorney Doug Grace wouldn't comment in an interview
after Frehner pleaded guilty whether police were investigating Mr.
Big.

"Who says he walks?" he said.

Morneau said in her judgment that police have decided not to pursue
Mr. Big for their own reasons. But Thursday, Grace said again he never
said whether police were investigating the man reputed to be Mr. Big.

When the lawyers made sentencing submissions Nov. 24, Barrie told
Morneau that Frehner offered to name Mr. Big if Frehner were placed in
the witness protection program.

Grace said Mr. Big wasn't big enough to warrant spending millions of
dollars to place Frehner in the program for the rest of his life.
Someone came forward and identified Mr. Big anyway.

Frehner was also prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years and
restricted weapons for life.