Federal prosecutors determined that a strip search involved in the arrests didn’t comply with Supreme Court requirements.
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Three people — including a woman and twin brothers — who were charged last year in what Saskatoon police called a “large scale” drug operation have had their trafficking and criminal organization charges stayed because of the way a strip search was conducted.
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This week, Jason Lee and Jaeho (Jay) Lee, both 35, and Jessica Tran, 34, were scheduled for the continuation of a voir dire that had been running, off and on, for months leading up to their scheduled September 2025 jury trial in Saskatoon Court of King’s Bench.
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A voir dire is a trial within a trial to determine the admissibility of evidence. In cases where an accused has elected to be tried by a jury, a voir dire cannot be reported on until jurors begin to deliberate.
The Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC) confirmed on Thursday that federal Crown prosecutors stayed all charges against the Lee brothers and Tran.
A stay of proceedings means charges are dropped unless new evidence is brought forward within a year.
“The PPSC assessed that aspects of strip search practices by elements of the Saskatoon Police Service in 2021 reflected in this investigation did not comply with the requirements established by the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Golden, 2001 SCC 83, and related court decisions, such that proceeding with the prosecution would tend to lower public confidence in the administration of justice contrary to the public interest,” PPSC spokesperson Nathalie Houle confirmed.
The Supreme Court decision ruled that warrantless strip searches upon arrest must be limited because of their level of intrusiveness, mandating that they must be done at a police station, not at the arrest location.
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The Lee brothers and Tran were arrested in January 2023. Their charges included trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine, conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, possession of the proceeds of crime and operating as a criminal organization.
Court records alleged the three were involved in selling cocaine and meth as part of a criminal organization dating back to April 2019.
In a news release, police said they started looking into the activities of a “sophisticated” organized crime operation in 2021. Ultimately, they seized a $700,000 house in the 500 block of Hamm Crescent in Saskatoon’s Rosewood neighbourhood (owned by Jason Lee), approximately $79,000 in cash, jewelry, financial documents, paraphernalia consistent with drug trafficking, and three vehicles: a Mercedes-Benz CLA250, an Acura ILX and a Nissan Rogue.
One man was arrested at a business in the 400 block of Second Avenue South. According to archived images, a Dr. Jason Lee worked out of a dental office in the 400 block of Second Avenue South.
In 2014, the StarPhoenix reported that his brother, Jaeho Lee, was a known mid-level drug dealer who was sentenced to five years in prison, less time served, after pleading guilty to cocaine trafficking.
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