American FedEx pilot imprisoned for breaking quarantine order in Singapore

An American cargo pilot who admitted to “poor judgment” in breaking a quarantine order to buy medical supplies has become the first foreigner imprisoned in Singapore for breaching its restrictions meant to curb the coronavirus.

FedEx pilot Brian Dugan Yeargan, 44, from Eagle River in Alaska, was sentenced to four weeks on Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to leaving his hotel room for three hours to buy masks and a thermometer.

Singapore has one of the largest outbreaks in Asia, with 26,000 cases. More than 90% of those infected are foreign workers living in crowded dormitories, while the government recently began easing restrictions for the local population.

The tiny city-state has strict penalties for those who breach quarantine rules, don’t wear masks in public or fail to adhere to social distancing measures. Quarantine violators face up to six months in jail, a fine of up to 10,000 Singapore dollars ($7,000) or both.

Yeargan’s defense lawyer Ronnie Tan said that he and his two co-pilots were taken to an airport hotel to serve 14-day quarantines upon arriving from Sydney on 3 April because they had visited China, Hong Kong, Macau, Japan and the United States in the two weeks before their arrival.

When health officials checked on Yeargan, they found him missing from his room on 5 April. Yeargan told the court he took the metro downtown to buy a thermometer and a few boxes of masks before he was to fly home on 6 April.

Tan said Yeargan needed the items because they were in short supply back home and his wife had been ill.

Tan said Yeargan’s daughter died in a tragic incident four years ago and the possibility of another death frightened him. Yeargan told the court his two co-pilots had flown out as scheduled but he had been held back in his room.

“In his address in court, Yeargan said he was sorry, he made a poor judgment and that he shouldn’t have gone out,” Tan said. The court said in its ruling that Yeargan should have asked someone to obtain the items for him.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/may/15/fedex-pilot-arrest-singapore-brian-dugan-yeargan