Woman jailed for having drug cash

Hyeyoung Jeon was a frequent visitor to the province, always arriving with two suitcases and leaving with one, police say

“We have to look at a public message that can be sent when people who may decide to enter Canada to enter a drug trafficking arrangement, be it by courier or otherwise, that on arrest they can’t sort of be dealt with quickly and just out the door and back to their country with little to no consequence.”

Crown prosecutor Elaine Reid

A woman arrested at St. John’s International Airport in February with $75,000 in drug money has been sentenced to jail time, after which she will be deported from the country.

Hyeyoung Jeon, 37, appeared by video in provincial court in St. John’s Thursday from the women’s correctional facility in Clarenville, where she has been held since her arrest on Feb. 26. Jeon had originally pleaded not guilty to charges of unlawfully selling cannabis and possessing it for the purpose of distributing it, as well as money laundering and possessing property obtained by crime.

On Thursday morning she changed her pleas on the latter two charges, and the Crown withdrew the drug charges.

Given the opportunity to address the court, Jeon grew emotional. A translator spoke in English on her behalf.

“She says she is sorry and she regrets making those choices. She really misses her family and she will never do this kind of thing again.”

Judge James Walsh accepted a joint submission from prosecutor Elaine Reid and defence lawyer Stephen Orr for 10 months in prison for Jeon, who has four months left to serve, with credit given for the time she has spent on remand.

Orr said immigration officials have already indicated Jeon, who is from South Korea and was living in Canada on a student visa, will be deported when she is released from prison.

Investigators with the RCMP’S Serious and Organized Crime Unit first caught on to Jeon’s actions in November 2019, when they were tracking a local man suspected in a drug operation and watched him exchange suitcases with her at a local hotel.

Police discovered Jeon had visited this province a number of times in the preceding months, flying in from Vancouver each time with two suitcases and leaving, sometimes within hours, with just one.

In one instance, they watched Jeon check in to a St. John’s hotel with an orange suitcase and a grey one. Later, a man entered the hotel, went to the area of Jeon’s room, and left with the orange suitcase. The original suspect also visited the hotel, carrying a plastic bag when he went in and nothing when he came out. Jeon left with just the grey suitcase.

The night of her arrest, police had received information that Jeon would arrive in St. John’s from Vancouver, and observed her collecting two suitcases at the airport baggage area before heading to a nearby hotel. Investigators watched as a man in a black SUV entered the hotel and later exited with one of the suitcases. Three hours after she arrived, Jeon took a shuttle back to the airport, where police arrested her.

She was carrying two sealed plastic bags of cash, one containing $25,000 and the other containing $50,000.

The man in the SUV was arrested and police found cannabis and cannabis resin in the suitcase he had with him.

Reid acknowledged Jeon has no prior criminal record, but stressed the need to send a public message of deterrence and denunciation for her crimes. Despite having a student visa, Jeon had not attended any school, Reid said.

“We have to look at a public message that can be sent when people who may decide to enter Canada to enter a drug trafficking arrangement, be it by courier or otherwise, that on arrest they can’t sort of be dealt with quickly and just out the door and back to their country with little to no consequence,” Reid said.

Orr said Jeon had come to Canada to learn English and her plans at a particular school hadn’t worked out. She had been looking for an alternate school when she “fell in with the wrong crowd,” Orr said.

Because Jeon doesn’t speak English, her time in prison “has been in solitary confinement as she has had no one really to speak to,” Orr told the judge.

“That’s something the court should take into consideration, especially considering the public interest.”

Walsh said Jeon’s deportation was a significant factor in his acceptance of the joint sentencing submission, since it eliminated the need for public protection. Her guilty plea saved the court at least a week of time, he said.