A Sanctuary Point man arrested as part of a South Coast Police District investigation into the large-scale cannabis cultivation in the Shoalhaven has escaped a jail term.
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Rodney Glen Fisher, 57, was one of four men arrested in April last year in relation to 203 mature cannabis plants, with an estimated potential street value of $400,000, found by police, south-west of Nowra near Turpentine Road at Parma.
Officers also seized ammunition and cash during the raid.
In Nowra Local Court Fisher pleaded guilty to participating in a criminal group, with Magistrate Gabriel Fleming placing him on an 18-month community corrections order, where he will serve his sentence in the community.
He has also been ordered to perform 150 hours community service.
Another charge of cultivating a prohibited plant against Fisher was withdrawn and dismissed.
Court papers said between January 2 and April 2 last year Fisher was part of a criminal group allegedly cultivating cannabis in bushland south west of Nowra.
The Proactive Deployment Unit from South Coast Police District started investigations into large-scale cannabis cultivation in the Jerrawangala and adjoining state forests south-west of Nowra last January.
On April 3, local police – accompanied by officers from the State Crime Command Drug and Firearm Squad and other specialist units – conducted several searches of bushland, discovering the 203 mature cannabis plants near Turpentine Road.
Officers executed search warrants on properties at Sanctuary Point and South Nowra the following day, seizing a number of items, including cannabis plants, leaf and cuttings along with GPS and communications equipment for further forensic examination. Cash and ammunition were also seized.
Three co-accused Sanctuary Point men, Trevor Arthur Perry, 57, Michael Wayne Jones, 54 and Andrew Bruce Newman, 35, have also again faced court on a variety of charges including possessing a prohibited drug, supplying an indictable quantity of cannabis, cultivating a prohibited plant, possessing a prohibited weapon, possessing ammunition without license and participating in a criminal group.
Perry and Jones will reappear in court on February 5 and Newman on February 11.
Read more: Crime/Court
