Locked up abroad - the setup

“It was all good just a week ago” — Jay-Z

I’m Taiwanese-American, born in upstate New York, and have lived in Monterey Park, CA most of my life. I moved to Taiwan at 29 and lived there for about 2 and half years. I went back to Los Angeles for a couple weddings in the Autumn/Winter of 2015. I flew back to Taiwan on January 21st, 2016 and landed at Kaohsiung International airport at 11:20pm. On this flight I had brought 76 Marijuana edibles (caramel popcorn, rice crispies and cheese-it’s) with me for personal use; I have a license to use for medicinal purposes. At the time, I had a job offer to sell software in the bay, so I planned to go back to Taiwan to grab my stuff and tie up loose ends. I was going to spend Chinese New Years with my family on that side and stay until my visa expired (3 months), then come back and start my job in June. Fate had other plans. Just when I thought I was out, it pulls me back in.

I flew from L.A.X. to Kaohsiung, Taiwan with a layover in Hong Kong. After 15 hours I landed in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. I knew something was up as soon as I passed the passport check, my gut was telling me I got snitched out, how else would they know? Why else would they be expecting me? I accidentally walked the wrong way, and I noticed a security guard following me. I thought “ahh shit, here we go.” While I was waiting for my luggage, I saw police officers with K-9 units standing by for “random drug checks.” I went to the bathroom and ditched the edibles I had on me, in my backpack, went back to the carousel and patiently waited for my luggage. My name was on it, there was nothing I could do at this point but hope for the best. There were two drug sniffing dogs — don’t be fooled by what you saw on youtube — the dogs that were there weren’t blonde and cute. I had two grey dogs trying to catch me flying dirty.

After what seemed like eternity, my luggage finally came down the chute. Not just one dog, but both dogs sniffed at my luggage and walked right past it. As a matter-of-fact, they picked up 5 other pieces of luggage, meaning 5 other people had things they weren’t suppose to have. As I picked up my bags and made my way over to customs, a group of officers stood in my path with one of the dogs. He sniffed at my luggage (again) and still made no gestures, no tail wag, nothing. I stood at the end of the customs line. Imagine my surprise when I was selected for a “random security check.” At first there was only a customs officer, but once they opened my luggage about 8 M.J.I.B. (Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau) agents came out of nowhere.

I still had my wardrobe in Taiwan, so I had brought minimal clothes with me. Most of the contents of my luggage were edibles, real snacks, vitamins, and gifts for the family. These clowns had no idea what they were doing. They ran tests on everything on the spot. Their tests were terrible: the edibles tested as positive for Ketamine, which they did not contain. They were Mickey Mouse cops — their K-9’s couldn’t even smell the edibles. They were befuddled. The police started recording the whole situation and when the test came back positive, they made me take a picture with the positive test result. I had my hoodie up over my head, and they pulled it down. I put it up again, and they pulled it down again. I did it one more time just to annoy them. For those of you that can read Chinese: don’t believe everything you read in the news. Almost everything is false and some things are outright lies. It was a big deal when I was caught. I made every news channel and 2 out of 4 newspapers. My friends and family tell me it was repeated for a few days too. It was propaganda to make the Police look like they’re doing their jobs. If this story seems outlandish, you can find the proof here , here and here. Look at how happy the old man looks, acting like he did a good job. Fucking keystone cops, they swear they caught the azn Nino Brown. My favorite part is how they took my legitimate snacks (Funyuns, flamin hot cheetos) and tried to pass those off as edibles too, and how they have a cute blonde dog instead of the two ugly grey ones. It was a dog and pony show.

I was taken to the Police Department at the airport to be questioned by the M.J.I.B. detectives and customs officials. I denied any wrongdoing and asked to speak to my family and a lawyer. I was denied both. My luggage was searched again at the Police station at the airport and I was cavity searched. The M.J.I.B. confiscated my computer, my iPad, my clothes, my sneakers and my luggage. I’ll be getting my iPad and computer back, but the clothes, sneakers and luggage will not be returned to me.

Since it was getting late, I was taken into custody on January 22nd, 2016 at 3:00 am on suspicion of drug smuggling and drug trafficking charges. We were to continue the interrogation the next day at the M.J.I.B. headquarters. They took me to M.J.I.B. headquarters to spend the night. By the time I got to a cell it was 3:30am and I was put in a cell with no bed, no blanket, and no pillows. They kept the lights on so that I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I was awakened at 6:00 am for no reason, and at 11:30am I had my photograph and fingerprints taken. I was then interrogated at 4:00pm. If you’re keeping track, that’s about 28 hours of no sleep (including the flight). During the interrogation, I denied any wrongdoing and continued asking for a lawyer or a translator. I was denied both. I asked to speak to my family and the police told me to shut up. At this point, I confessed to smuggling but nothing else. I confessed to smuggling because I was confident I could beat the other charges (sales, distribution, etc) but no matter what it was going to be smuggling. They caught me red-handed, they caught my hand in the cookie jar. I’ll accept the consequences for my actions, I’m not going to cry over a little time. But, I was going to fight the other charges tooth and nail. I also knew that in Taiwan, the judges are a lot more lenient if there is a confession. After I confessed The Captain (the old man in the news articles) came in and looked at the transcripts. He wasn’t satisfied, and I watched him change my answers in front of me. I started complaining and he told me to shut up.

After that farce of an interrogation I was taken to the prosecutor’s office. I was put in a holding cell in the basement below the court. The prosecutor saw the evidence and felt that there was enough to press charges. I was brought in front of the judge and they finally gave me a translator. My translator was terrible, and I mean really bad. He was an old man, about 55 +, with a thick chinese accent. Some words he would translate incorrectly. He would ask me questions the judge didn’t ask. He couldn’t put together a single, coherent sentence or thought. I thought to myself “I’m Fucked.” He was so bad, that I’d rather not have a translator. He was only serving to confuse me. During this process, there was a judge, a court clerk, and the translator. The translator and I got into an argument halfway through. I told the judge “your honor, this dude’s English sucks. Is there anybody else that can translate for me?.” The translator said “No, there isn’t. You can’t understand me because I have an English accent. I speak the Queen’s English.” I said,“What are you trying to say? That American people can’t understand British people? You do not have an English accent, you do not speak the Queen’s English. Your English sucks.” He said, “You don’t understand me because you can’t understand English. You don’t have to pretend like you do.” I said, “Fuck you, just because you think you can speak English, doesn’t mean you can.” The judge had to tell us to calm down. The judge tells me that I’m charged with Smuggling, Trafficking, Sales, Distribution, and personal use. All together they carry a maximum sentence of 7 years to life. Since it’s my first time committing an offense in Taiwan, she would lower the minimum to 5 years, 5 years to life.

After spending some time in the holding cell in the basement, I was escorted by 3 fully armed policemen to Kaohsiung second prison. When I arrived at the prison I was cavity searched and had my photo and fingerprints taken. I was processed and then put into a cell. While on trial I spent 3 months in a Taiwanese prison. I am currently out on bail awaiting sentencing.

Can you believe they about to lock your boy up over some bullshit?!??! They about to lock me up for bringing my medicine over, that I have a prescription for! This blog will be about my experiences inside the prison during those 3 months, my trial, the Taiwanese justice system, and what I’m doing while I’m out on bail now. My lawyer will be updating this blog for me when I’m serving my term. I’ll be writing a book when I’m out about my life, my experiences and finally comparing and contrasting U.S. and Taiwan incarceration.