Jonathan K. Lee biography: 10 things about JBLM deserter

Jonathan Kang Lee is a Korean-American soldier stationed at Joint Base Lewis–McChord (JBLM) in Washington, United States. Here are 10 more things about him:

1. He was a signal intelligence analyst at JBLM.
2. In 2017, he joined the U.S. Army.
3. In 2020, he allegedly sexually assaulted a child in Steilacoom, Pierce County, Washington.
4. In 2022, the Pierce County district attorney prosecuted him under Washington’s child rape and molestation laws.
5. On February 16, 2023, he was arraigned on six sexual assault violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
6. After legal motions in April 2023, a plea agreement was made but he withdrew from the deal on May 23, 2023.
7. On July 9, 2023, he pleaded not guilty to six counts of sexual assault on children and invoked his right to be tried by a military panel that included enlisted soldiers. On October 2023, legal motions finished.
8. On January 14, 2024, he was seen driving a white 2011 Honda Pilot sport utility vehicle before he deserted from JBLM that day. On January 15, 2024, Nicholas Hokema, a Redicab driver from Olympia, Thurston County, Washington, was found dead in a parking lot at Southcenter Mall in Tukwila, King County, Washington.
9. He was scheduled for a trial on January 16, 2024 on six charges of sexual assault on children.
10. On January 19, 2024, he was convicted and sentenced in absentia to 64 years of confinement for felony offenses during a military court martial held on JBLM.
11. On January 26, 2024, he was apprehended in Redmond, King County.
12. On January 30, 2024, the Tukwila Police Department named him a person of interest in the death of Hokema.
13. He was 25 years old when the Tukwila Police Department announced on March 1, 2024 that he is the prime suspect in Hokema’s murder but he has yet to be charged.