Former prison guard sentenced to five years for smuggling drugs, weapons, cellphones into maximum security Kent Institution
Jason Lee's criminal conspiracy put all corrections officers at risk, also helped gangster Lucas Thiessen maintain his drug operation in the Lower Mainland and northern B.C.
Nine months into his career with Correctional Service Canada, Jason Kenneth Lee began his months-long conspiracy with three gang-connected drug dealers to smuggle illegal drugs, cellphones, tobacco and even weapons into Kent Institution.
Seventeen months after he was busted, last Friday, Lee was sentenced to five years in custody, which his lawyer requested be served at B.C. least violent prison, William Head Institution in Victoria.
Kent Institution, on the other hand, is B.C.’s only maximum security institution where the worst of the worst offenders live.
Lee was paid tens of thousands of dollars for smuggling in hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of contraband, putting all his fellow prison guards at risk of physical harm.
Among the substances found in prison packages on him when he was arrested at the Popkum Tim Hortons on Sept. 21, 2023, and in two packages found at his house along with $62,000 in cash, was cocaine, methamphetamine, steroids, syringes, phones, chargers, even wall putty and sandpaper to help hide contraband in prison.
One package received by notorious gangster Lucas Thiessen included throwing knives.
“The incredible danger of these items is self-evident," Crown counsel Kaitlin Kuefler said in her long list of aggravating factors at Lee’s sentencing hearing on March 7, 2025.
“[His fellow officers] were entitled to believe that he had their backs, not that he was smuggling in weapons to stab them in the back.”
Lee’s wife, brother and parents were in the courtroom for the sentencing on March 7, as were RCMP officers involved in the investigation and a handful of current Kent Institution correctional officers, including warden Jordan Quaroni who wrote a victim impact statement that was read in court by Kuefller.
“He caused irreparable harm to the Government of Canada, the correctional service and the thousands of peace officers who hold themselves to highest standards,” Quaroni wrote.
“The demoralizing effects of his actions continue to this day.”
Tears of regret
“I am deeply embarrassed and regretful for my action,” Lee said to the court in his own statement at the end of the hearing. “As a member of his community I generally respond and go to great lengths to help others…. But I allowed myself to be manipulated, which put myself and others at risk.
“I am truly sorry for the harms my actions have caused.”
Lee pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, accepting a bribe as an officer, and possession for the purpose of trafficking on Feb. 10, 2025. He was originally charged with nine offences, the other six were dropped after his sentencing.
The three other individuals charged in the smuggling operation are connected to Lower Mainland gang activity, namely, Mark Majcher, Lucas Thiessen and Jeffrey Tkatchuk.
Thiessen and Tkatchuk were offenders at Kent receiving Lee’s packages while Majcher was “the man on the outside.”
Thiessen remains in custody where he is serving a nearly nine-year sentence from 2018 when he was busted with 3.6 kilograms of cocaine, 228 grams of fentanyl, several weapons and other illegal materials. He was sentenced on March 3, 2025 in the Lee case to five years.
Majcher was the first sentenced, to 33 months, or a global sentence of 5.5 years. Tkatchuk is on the lam, a wanted man who is the subject of a Canadawide warrant for his arrest.
Lucas Thiessen (left) and Jeffrey Tkatchuk were in Kent Institution when they were involved in a conspiracy with Mark Majcher on the outside, and Jason Kenneth Lee, a prison guard who smuggled drugs, phones, tobacco and weapons into the maximum security prison. (RCMP file)
Three degrees of Lucas Thiessen: Gangsters, the prison guard and his wife
Lee started his career as a correctional officer at Kent in May 2022. Between Feb. 11 and Sept. 21, 2023 he was paid bribe money to smuggle in packages given to him by Majcher that he gave to Thiessen or Tkatchuk on the inside.
Lee was recruited to join the smuggling conspiracy in January 2023 by a friend who is a well-known offender in Chilliwack, Adam Burt, who is connected to Thiessen. Burt triggered the entire investigation when he told an officer at the Chilliwack RCMP detachment where he was facing an impaired driving charge.
“Burt told an RCMP officer that his ‘buddy’ who was at the detachment was an off-duty correctional officer at Kent,” Crown counsel Kuefler said. “The RCMP alerted Kent and they confirmed the guard was Lee.”
The Kent warden at the time, Marie Cossette, spoke to Lee about his relationship with Adam Burt, although the contents of this conversation were not shared.
On April 19, 2023, Burt’s girlfriend Shannon Den Admirant was arrested in an unrelated investigation into her connection with Thiessen who runs illegal drug operations in the Lower Mainland and northern B.C. from behind the walls at Kent.
In the sentencing hearing Crown counsel outlined connections from Lee to Burt to Den Admirant to Thiessen. As a result of Den Admirant’s arrest, her phone was searched and a conversation on the Signal app with Thiessen was discovered.
From the agreed statement of facts provided to me by Crown:
Johnny (Thiessen): Hey you wanna grab couple iphone for me tomrrow in Langley and bring to Jason
Den Admirant: Ya I can do that
Den Admirant: I think Mike’s coming down pretty quick, then he was gonna chat with him and make sure he’s 100% on board. He seemed interested for sure.
Johnny: Yea I pretty sure it’s a good thing I think just give em couple phones and 10k and see what happens but at least can grab and have them ready for whenever milk [nickname for Majcher] is down.
Den Admirant: Sounds good.
Then there was the connection explained between Lee’s wife, Summer, and Thiessen’s girlfriend. A new investigation into Lee was opened in May 2023 by the Chilliwack RCMP and Signal messages were reviewed from phones seized from Tkatchuk and Thiessen. On May 2, 2023, Tkatchuk and Thiessen discussed Majcher grabbing something and meeting “Summer his wife.”
A disrespected co-conspirator
Throughout the investigation, officers had to figure out who was who regarding several nicknames and Signal handles, some of which overlapped in usage. Majcher went by “Mr. Putin” on Signal but his nickname was usually “Shake” or “Milk.” Thiessen used several Signal handles, “Kosher” was mostly referred to in the agreed statement of facts. Tkatchuk was “Kenny Powers.”
Lee’s username on Signal was “Mike Smith,” but the correctional officer was not treated with particular respect by his co-conspirators when they talked about him behind his back.
“Majcher, Tkatchuk, and Thiessen collectively referred to him by several nicknames, including ‘pig,’ ‘Mongo’ and ‘Mongoloid'.”
On June 11, July 2, and Sept. 2, 2023, Lee delivered prison packages “in a mannger that would not arouse suspicion” thanks to his knowledge of Kent security protocols. Contents of the June package laid out on a red blanket were shared by Thiessen with three of his contacts, which included syringes, phone cords and throwing knives.
Contents of prison packages and cash seized from Kent Institution prison guard Jason Lee who was sentenced to five years jail on March 7, 2025 for his part in a conspiracy with criminals inside and outside the prison.(Source: RCMP, and R. v. Jason Lee - agreed statement of facts on sentencing)
It wasn't just a conspiracy to deliver contraband, on Aug. 24, 2023, Lee used a phone to warn Tkatchuk inside the prison of upcoming searches in Tkatchuk’s unit at Kent. The next day, Kent correctional officers seized “saw blades, syringes, steroids, electronic cords, and a small amount of methamphetamine.”
On Sept. 2, 2023, Lee passed a prison package to Tkatchuk in a small janitorial closet off camera. CCTV footage shows the two go into the room, Tkatchuk. with a mop and rolling bucket. They left 15 seconds later.
The payoffs
“Fucking Mongoloid wont stop bothering me... can we pass him these files [money]... he’s like i’ll drive anywhere to pick them up.”
That Signal message was from “Mr. Putin” [Majcher] to “Kenny Powers” [Tkatchuk] in a June 28, 2023 message on Signal. The group chat then showed Majcher then messaged “New Jew” [Thiessen] to arrange a dropoff of money to “Mongoloid" [Lee].
Further evidence of the bribes include chats in September 2023 when Jason Lee and his wife Summer Lee discussed her meeting Thiessen’s girlfriend at a Starbucks to pick up $15,000 in bribery money.
Lee: You home?????
Lee: Luckys gf has 15 on her now and is out there
Summer: Yes. He called me
Summer: Should they come here?
Summer: I dno how busy Starbucks is
Lee: Do there
Another chat 11 days later between Jason Lee and his wife Summer Lee involved payments to help finance her upcoming breast surgery, which both Crown and Lee agree was to cost $9,500.
Summer: It’s a lot of money.
Lee: I’m just saying days are getting booked asap.
Summer: I know
Summer: [Emphasized] “It’s a lot of money” [then] We should see if we can finance hall.
Lee: I am literally going to make 75% of that doing the small item
Summer: I know but still
Lee: Or we pay cash and don’t have payments.
Lee: I’m making 8500 (2000 which is owed) on this one item
Lee: [unidentified emoji]
Lee: And I have 40 more coming and we have 62.
Lee: Whatever you wanna do.
The latter number refers to $60,225 found in envelopes in a safe in Lee’s bedroom closet after he was busted.
The end
On Sept. 21, 2023, Lee was scheduled to start work at 6:30 a.m. He left home at 5:37 a.m. and he was arrested by Chilliwack RCMP drug squad officers in the presence of several Kent Institution correctional officer colleagues at the Tim Hortons at the Popkum roundabout. He was found with a vacuum-sealed package with four cellphones, two charging blocks, two iPhone cards, and eight SIM cards.
Signal messages between Majcher and Tkatchuk indicated that Lee would be paid $5,000 to deliver the four phones. Police then executed a search warrant for the Lees’ home where they found two vacuum-sealed, plastic-wrapped packages.
Package one contained:
55 grams of methamphetamine;
53 grams of cocaine/MDMA mixture;
712 grams of tobacco;
two phones;
charging cables and blocks; and
sand paper.
Package two contained:
514 grams of cannabis shatter;
9.5 grams of cannabis in a smell-proof Ziploc bag;
198 anabolic steroid pills;
13 vials of testosterone;
various prescription pills;
253 grams of tobacco;
80 needles of different gauges;
15 syringes;
a mini cellphone, charging cords, adapters, SIM cards, and USBs; and
three vials of wall putty.
$20k worth of drugs worth about $300k behind bars
The institutional value of drugs, tobacco, weapons and cellphones is considerably higher than on the streets, a simple function of the economic principle of demand and supply. By estimates included in the agreed statement of facts, the institutional value of illegal drugs is, on average, approximately 15 times higher than the street value.
There is no cash in prison so most purchase are made using e-transfers on contraband cellphones. Crown counsel outlined the environment of violence and fear Lee helped create with the lucrative black market for contraband inside a maximum security prison. It’s not uncommon for inmates to become indebted to people such as Thiessen and Tkatchuk.
“Marginalized inmates who are suffering from substance abuse issues are particularly vulnerable,” according to the agreed statement of facts.
Debts can lead to violence committed by indebted inmates on behalf of debtors, again, people such as Thiessen and Tkatchuk.
The calculations provided to the court showed that the institutional value of the illegal drugs and tobacco. seized at the Lee residence was, for example $500 to $700 per gram of methamphetemine, which compares to a street value of approiximately $100 per gram.
In total, the meth, cocaine, shatter and tobacco had an institutional value of between $302,700 and $331,400. That compares to a street value of approximately $21,000.
Seeking an easy ride in jail
In agreeing to the joint submission of five years in jail, Judge Michael Fortino said he accepted Lee’s claim that he felt genuine remorse, regret and shame for his actions.
“Your time in custody is not going to be easy,” Judge Fortino said.
“I want you to know that I accept you are not a bad person and you have many positive qualities. I accept that you made a terrible choice that you deeply regret and you will live with for the rest of your life.”
Lee’s lawyer Kelly Merrigan submitted to Judge Fortino a request to recommend that he serve his time at William Head Institution in Victoria.
“Every day my client is in custody he will have a target on his back, and that weighs heavily on his mind,” Merrigan said adding that it is well-known that certain offenders in prisons are at exceptional risk of violence.
“It is common knowledge that prisons have protective custody for a reason. For sex offenders or informants. Top of the list is peace officers.”
Merrigan said William Head is the least violent institution in B.C. filled with white collar criminals and non-violent offenders, in addition to inmates serving the end of a sentence getting ready for release.
“They are on their very best behaviour,” Merrigan said.
Crown took no position on the recommendation to serve at William Head, and Judge Fortino made that recommendation in his sentencing. The actual decision as to where Lee will serve his sentence rests with Correctional Service Canada.
As Lee was led into custody out of courtroom 205 after the hearing, his wife yelled to him, “I love you.”
-30-
Paul J. Henderson
pauljhenderson@gmail.com
facebook.com/PaulJHendersonJournalist
instagram.com/wordsarehard_pjh
x.com/PeeJayAitch
wordsarehard-pjh.bsky.social