The electricity meter was diverted, which had allowed him to use $17,207 in electricity to do the growing. His bank accounts were examined, revealing McMahon had laundered more than $470,000 between May 2017 and February 2020. McMahon pleaded guilty to money laundering, cultivating cannabis, possession of cannabis for supply and theft of the electricity. The judge said the amount of money showed the level of the illegal operation. He said McMahon had convictions spanning 28 years between 1984 and 2012, when he was last sent to prison. “It shows your enduring interest in growing and dealing cannabis,” he said. The house had since been forfeited to the Crown and McMahon was now living with his mother and brother.
A Taranaki gang member who had admitted his part in using standover tactics to steal a car has had his request to cancel his guilty pleas, in order to get into a rehab program, dismissed.