A former B.C. corrections officer has been sentenced to five years in prison for his role in “a complex scheme to smuggle drugs, weapons and other contraband” into the province’s only maximum security federal prison.
Jason Kenneth Lee received his sentence in Chilliwack provincial court last week, after pleading guilty to charges of conspiracy, accepting a bribe as a peace officer and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.
In reasons for sentencing published online this week, Judge Michael Fortino described Lee’s crimes as “a profound breach of public trust.”
However, the judge also found Lee to be remorseful and well-supported by his community, and expressed hope for the offender’s successful rehabilitation.
“I want you to know that I accept you are not a bad person and that you have many positive qualities,” Fortino told Lee after imposing the five-year custodial sentence, which was proposed in a joint submission by Crown and defence lawyers.
The smuggling scheme
Lee’s crimes occurred in 2023, while he was employed as a corrections officer at Kent Institution in Agassiz, B.C.
According to Fortino’s decision, Lee worked with his co-accused in the case – Mark Majcher, Lucas Thiessen and Jeffrey Tkatchuk – to bring contraband worth as much as $350,000 into the prison.
The decision describes Majcher as the “man on the outside,” a drug trafficker who served as Lee’s primary point of contact, delivered payment to him and created packages for smuggling.
Thiessen and Tkatchuk were serving prison sentences and were responsible for distributing the contraband within the institution.
Lee’s role, according to the decision, was to use “his knowledge of the prison’s security protocols to devise plans with his co-accused on how to best smuggle in and deliver the contraband in a manner that would not arouse suspicion.”
Chilliwack RCMP began investigating Lee after his name came up in an exchange on the Signal messaging app between Thiessen and a woman who was under investigation for alleged drug trafficking, the decision indicates.
In the messages, which are not reproduced in the court decision, Thiessen and the woman discussed getting Thiessen a new phone, as well as acquiring several additional phones, and paying $10,000 to Lee to make it happen.
Further investigation led to the discovery of additional messages in which Lee and his wife arranged to receive a payment from Thiessen’s girlfriend, as well as surveillance video from the prison showing Lee entering “an off-camera janitorial closet” with Tkatchuk, then departing 15 seconds later.
“Mr. Lee admits he made a delivery to Mr. Tkatchuk at that time,” the decision reads.
Police arrested Majcher and executed a search warrant at Lee’s home in September 2023. During the search, they found two “vacuum-sealed, plastic-wrapped packages” containing various items that had been referred to in the Signal messages and seen in photographs on phones seized from Tkatchuk and Thiessen’s cells, according to the decision.
Among the contents of the packages were methamphetamine, a cocaine/MDMA mixture, tobacco, cannabis, “shatter,” various anabolic steroids and prescription drugs, “80 needles of differing gauges,” 15 syringes, cellphones, charging cords and SIM cards.
Police also seized 15 envelopes of cash totalling $60,225 from a safe in Lee’s bedroom.
‘An incorrigible way of offending’
Fortino considered a variety of aggravating and mitigating factors when deciding whether to accept the joint submission on Lee’s sentence.
The judge noted that Lee is 38 years old, has three kids and was “gainfully employed” in the “heavy duty machine industry” both before he became a corrections officer and since he was dismissed from that role.
“Several letters were submitted to the court that speak to the support Mr. Lee has from family members, friends, work colleagues, and his employer,” the decision reads.
“They reveal he is a dedicated and committed father who possesses a strong work ethic and would do anything to support a friend in need. He has been transparent with those around him about his offending and has demonstrated a deep level of remorse for his actions and the shame it has brought to his family and the community.”
Collectively, the letters show Lee “is not a criminally entrenched person,” according to Fortino’s decision, which notes that the letter-writers expressed “shock” and difficulty reconciling the Lee they knew with the knowledge of his crimes.
At the same time, the judge noted, the warden of Kent Institution at the time of Lee’s offending submitted a victim impact statement highlighting “the demoralizing effect” of Lee’s actions on his former colleagues.
“Taking bribes and enabling the corruption of the penal system amounts to a profound breach of public trust that guts the very foundation of our penal law,” the decision reads.
“It undermines public confidence in the work of those other officials who diligently and ethically uphold their public duty. It renders the threat of the law’s most serious sanction meaningless, and demonstrates that even decisions of the courts and the rule of law are vulnerable to being undermined by what is, simply put, an incorrigible way of offending.”
Weighing these factors and the relevant legal framework, Fortino concluded that the joint submission was “sound.”
He sentenced Lee to a total of five years in prison, representing two years for the conspiracy charge, two years for the bribery charge and three years for the drug trafficking charge. The bribery and conspiracy sentences are to be served concurrently, while the drug trafficking sentence is consecutive.
The judge also ordered him to submit DNA to authorities, to forfeit the property seized during the search of his home, and to refrain from any contact with Majcher, Thiessen and Tkatchuk.
Lee is also now subject to a firearms ban that will last until 10 years after his release from prison.
“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,” the decision reads.
“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.”
