Could a man who visited a house multiple times that had 992 marijuana plants growing in it possibly not have suspected anything was going on?

Nor even smelled it? Nor noticed the black tarp at the bottom of the stairs leading to the basement, or seen the piping and filters in the laundry room floor?

An Ontario Superior Court judge said — no way — in a judgment released last Thursday, deeming the man, Trung Tran, guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of marijuana.

The grow-operation had as much as $500,000 worth of marijuana, some processed and some in production, the court heard. An elaborate setup involved diverting hydro lines to try to evade detection, but even still the police investigation stemmed from a tip from a hydro employee who noticed high usage.

In stakeouts, police observed Tran parking his BMW and going inside a newly built house on Curran Road in Ancaster on several days in November 2013. Once he stayed for 30 minutes. He said it was to check on the tenant of the house, his sister, but that didn't pass muster with Judge A.J. Goodman.

"I draw the inference that the size and scope of the marijuana crop growing inside was so large that anyone entering the house would have immediately smelled the marijuana," the judge wrote.

"The value of the drugs makes it extremely unlikely that anyone would have possession of the key to the grow operation and be in the residence for the extended period as found here and yet have no knowledge of the existence of the drugs," he concluded.

You can read the judge's decision here.