Auckland, New Zealand fashion designer, Jason Crawford, is headed for jail today after being found guilty of harvesting cannabis plants.

The 37-year-old owner of the once successful label, Insidious Fix, was charged in November after police raided a warehouse and found $1 million worth of marijuana plants and $400,000 worth of stolen goods.

This afternoon Crawford was sentenced to six years in prison. The Auckland district court judge, Mary Beth Sharp, said she hopes the ruling will deter him and the public from committing these types of crimes in the future.

But Crown prosecutor Bruce Northwood argued for a stronger sentence pointing out that the professional nature of Crawford's cannabis operation and the amount of stolen merchandise deserved a more serious punishment.
 
'This [operation] has been geared for success and on a grand scale,' he said in court.

Crawford's lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, plans to appeal the conviction. He is asking for a two-year home detention sentence.
 
The charges were first laid in 2005 when police raided an Onehunga, Auckland warehouse. Since then two more drug operations were found, along with thousands of dollars worth of stolen items.