A former corrections officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for smuggling contraband items into maximum-security Kent Institution.
According to Provincial Court documents, Jason Kenneth Lee, 38, has pleaded guilty to unlawfully conspiring with five other people to smuggle contraband into the prison, accepting a bribe and unlawfully possessing methamphetamine, cocaine, buprenophine and MDMA for the purposes of trafficking. Lee committed the offences between Feb. 11, 2023 and Sept. 21, 2023.
Lee was involved with several people in a complex scheme to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband items into Kent Institution. At the time, he had been employed as a corrections officer for nearly a year. Mark Majcher, one of Lee's co-accused, was the "man on the outside" and Lee's primary point of contact, according to court documents. Majcher created and delivered packages for smuggling to Lee. Lucas Thiessen and Jeffrey Tkatchuk 香蕉视频直播� both inmates serving sentences for drug trafficking 香蕉视频直播� were responsible for distributing the contraband.
In January 2023, Lee attended the Chilliwack RCMP with Shannon Den Admirant to pick up Adam Burt, who was believed to have ties to criminal activity in Chilliwack, was in custody for an impaired driving investigation and was dating Den Admirant at the time. Burt told RCMP officers that his "buddy" was an off-duty correctional officer. The Chilliwack RCMP alerted Kent Institution, and officials at the prison later spoke to Lee about his relationship with Burt.
Three months later, Den Admirant was arrested as part of a separate investigation into drug trafficking involving Thiessen. Police believed that Thiessen was continuing his drug trafficking operations from Kent Institution. RCMP seized Den Admirant's phone and obtained a search warrant for it. They discovered a message from Thiessen on the encrypted messaging app Signal indicating that Thiessen needed a new phone and he would pay Lee $10,000 for additional phones.
This discovery prompted the Chilliwack RCMP to begin an investigation into Lee. During the investigation, they discovered several communications with co-conspirators that implicated Lee was part of their scheme to smuggle contraband into the prison; the scheme was well underway as of May 2023. The investigators also discovered that Lee's wife, Summer Lee, was aware of the "substantial profit" Lee would receive.
In August 2023, the investigation found Lee 香蕉视频直播� through Majcher 香蕉视频直播� warned Tkatchuk of an impending search, during which correctional officers seized blades, syringes, steroids, electronic cards and methamphetamine 香蕉视频直播� items found to be smuggled in by Lee.
In early September 2023, Lee was caught on the prison's CCTV meeting with Tkatchuk in an off-camera janitorial closet for 15 seconds. Lee admitted to making a delivery at that time. Tkatchuk took a picture of the delivered items when he returned to his cell: three cell phones, charging cords and cables, several pill bottles and packaged drugs 香蕉视频直播� which included 95 grams of methamphetamine and 65 grams of cannabis 香蕉视频直播� and tobacco.
Lee purchased eight cell phone SIM cards from London Drugs under Majcher's direction on Sept. 20. He messaged Majcher to confirm the purchase and advised Majcher of the contents of an upcoming package as well as detailed instructions on how to avoid detection. The following day, Majcher was arrested at a Tim Horton's near the institution. Police seized four cell phones, two charging blocks, two iPhone cords, eight SIM cards and a London Drugs receipt from the previous day. A search of further Signal messages from Lee's phone uncovered that Lee was to be paid $5,000 for the delivery of the cell phones.
Following Majcher's arrest, the RCMP executed a search warrant at Lee's home, during which they discovered two vacuum-sealed packages containing a variety of controlled substances, SIM cards, a mini-cell phone and wall putty. They also found at least $60,000 in cash in 15 envelopes.
Lee denied his involvement when he was arrested but later submitted guilty pleas to the charges.
The Crown and defence submitted a seven-year jail sentence would have been "unduly long or harsh." Judge Michael Fortino said the court received several letters of support attesting to Lee's character as a dedicated father with a strong work ethic who faced financial difficulties and showed consistent remorse for his actions.
"Mr. Lee, your time in custody is likely not going to be easy given your previous status as a peace officer; however, as you must recognize by now, breaching the significant trust bestowed upon you by the public and our legal institutions has significant consequences for you and, unfortunately, also for your family," Fortino stated. "I want you to know that I accept you are not a bad person and that you have many positive qualities. I accept that you made a terrible choice that you deeply regret and will live with for the rest of your life. I hope you use your time in custody productively so that when you are released, you can provide for your family and serve your community in a positive and pro-social way that also helps to repair the significant harm done."
While Fortino said Lee has an exceptionally high chance at successful rehabilitation, Lee's actions called for a sentence that "will denounce Mr. Lee's unlawful conduct in the strongest terms."
"I agree with the authorities that have been placed before me that give significant weight to the aggravating nature of the profound breach of trust that exists in this case," Fortino said. "Public confidence in the rule of law and the administration of justice has been undermined by Mr. Lee香蕉视频直播檚 actions. Not only were his fellow officers and the inmates in his care victims to him, the public, itself, was considerable victim here."
In addition to the jail sentence, Lee is to comply with a DNA sample order, a 10-year firearms and weapons ban, a forfeiture order, a non-communication order with those involved in the scheme and an order requiring payment of a victim fine surcharge.
Lee will serve his sentence at William Head Institution.
