Twin Charged in Plot to Kill Sister

In a bizarre plot tailor-made for tabloid television, a twin faces charges that she conspired to kill her sister in order to assume her identity.

The case involves Jeen and Sunny Han, who were “the evil twin and good twin,” said Irvine Police Lt. Tom Hume.

Jeen, 22, characterized by Hume as the “evil twin,” faces arraignment Friday in Orange County Municipal Court on an array of charges, including conspiracy to commit murder, robbery and false imprisonment.

“The good twin has moved out from her place,” Hume added. “[Sunny’s] very concerned for her safety.”

According to Hume, Jeen Han was angry at her sister for helping authorities mount a recent theft prosecution against her involving the use of money and stolen credit cards belonging to people in the San Diego area, where she lived.

That case, in which Jeen Han was convicted, played a role in the conspiracy, police said. Jeen, known as “Jeena,” planned to kill her sister because she could then take her money and credit cards without worrying about a criminal background or poor credit history, Hume said.

However, her plans unraveled Nov. 6 when she and two male teenagers from San Diego went to her sister’s Irvine apartment to kill her sister, Hume said.

After stopping at an Irvine supermarket to buy rope and duct tape to tie the victim, the three people drove to Sunny’s Irvine residence. One of the youths knocked on the front door, but after identifying himself as a magazine salesman, Sunny’s roommate shut the door on him.

The two teenagers returned with a gun, authorities said, forcing their way inside, where they bound and gagged the roommate. Hearing the commotion from another room, Sunny Han locked herself in a bathroom because she believed her roommate was being raped. She called police on a cellular phone.

When authorities arrived, “Jeena is in the car waiting and she tells arriving officers, ‘Hey, my sister is in there. Something’s wrong,’ ” Hume said.

Police surrounded the home, entered and arrested one of the youths and freed the roommate, who was otherwise unharmed. As police checked out the house, they didn’t notice Jeen Han and the other teenager flee the scene, Hume said.

After the arrest, the unidentified juvenile told police about the murder-for-hire plot, Hume said.

“There was going to be an exchange of money and property from Jeena Han to the two teenagers,” Hume said. “I don’t know if they were going to do the actual killing, but they were going to assist, according to the youth interviewed.”

Meanwhile, Jeen Han and the other accomplice fled to San Diego, where they tried to buy a new car, using sister Sunny’s identification and credit cards. Dealership employees became suspicious, and asked that they wait a day before the transaction could be completed.

The pair left but were arrested in San Diego as they returned a rental car near the San Diego Airport, police said.

In Orange County, the arrest of her twin sister left Sunny emotionally shaken, police said.

“You’ve got to remember,” Hume said, “that when we surrounded the house, the victim Sunny didn’t know her sister was involved in this. She didn’t have a clue. When she was told by police she was visibly shaken.”

Han remains in the Orange County Jail on $250,000 bail. Her alleged accomplices, 15- and 16-year-old El Cajon residents, were booked at Orange County Juvenile Hall.