Prison guard pleads guilty to accepting bribes, drug trafficking, conspiracy

Jason Kenneth Lee charged along with gang members for smuggling drugs, weapons into a Fraser Valley institution

He conspired. He took bribes. He trafficked in meth. And he was supposed to be one of the good guys.

Former Kent Institution prison guard Jason Kenneth Lee put his law-abiding work colleagues at risk and he put himself at risk getting in bed with organized crime and the dirty job of dealing drugs to federal inmates.

Lee pleaded guilty in provincial court in Chilliwack on Monday (Feb. 10, 2025) to conspiracy to commit an indictable offence, accepting a bribe as an officer, and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The three co-accused on the file are connected to Lower Mainland gangs, namely, Mark Majcher, Lucas Thiessen and Jeffrey Tkatchuk.

Now a former Correctional Services of Canada (CSC) employee, Lee originally faced nine charges in connection with a drug smuggling operation at the prison uncovered in 2023. Less than a month ago, the 38-year-old was scheduled to elect whether to be tried by a judge or a jury, but clearly he made a deal with the Crown. In these cases where an offender pleads to some charges, that is usually in part in exchange for dropping the remaining charges, and possibly agreeing on a joint submission for sentencing.

Lee was arrested Aug. 28, 2024 and was charged. The charges he did not plead to this week and that will likely be dropped include:
• obstruction of justice as part of a criminal organization
• conspiracy to obstruct justice
• one of two counts of conspiracy to commit an indictable offence
• obstruction of justice
• breach of trust by a public officer; and
• trafficking in a controlled substance as part of a criminal organization.

The arrests were the result of an investigation RCMP say was a collaboration between the Chilliwack RCMP drug section and CSC. Officers discovered evidence consistent with a correctional officer smuggling contraband, including drugs, weapons and cellphones, to inmates within an institution in the Fraser Valley.

Police did not name the institution, however, the location of the offence on the file is Agassiz, which is where Kent Institution and Mountain Institution are located. Kent is the the only maximum security federal penitentiary in the CSC's Pacific region. Mountain is a medium security institution right next to Kent.

Majcher, Thiessen and Tkatchuk were each charged with five counts:
• obstruction of justice as part of a criminal organization
• conspiracy to obstruct justice
• conspiracy to bribe a peace officer
• conspiracy to commit the indictable offence of trafficking in a controlled substance; and
• obstruction of justice.

Tkatchuk is also facing a charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

A known gang member, Thiessen remains in custody. He last appeared in court via video on Jan. 28, and he is scheduled to plead guilty to all five charges on March 3, 2025.

In 2018, Thiessen was sentenced to 8.75 years in jail for possession for the purpose of trafficking, two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance, and two counts of possession of a prohibited firearm. The details of the case have not yet come out in court, but presumably Thiessen was serving that sentence when the attempted smuggling contraband into jail took place.

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Paul J. Henderson
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