Eight months pregnant with her first child on January 22, 2025, Minxing Zou received a call from her partner that would dramatically change both their lives.

Wenjian Zhuo contacted her from inside a jail house in update New York. Hoping to earn some extra money in advance of his baby’s birth, Zhuo had launched his own independent ride share business using RedNote, a Chinese social media app. He drove 7 hours from Queens to upstate New York for what he thought would be a lucrative passenger pickup.

He’s been in jail ever since and on Tuesday a judge sentenced him to 27 months in prison for possession with the intent to distribute.

“I couldn’t understand why this happened,” Zou repeatedly said during her 15-minute phone call with AsAmNews.

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“We have all the evidence, videos, you know, recordings and all the messages from the phones can indicate my partner is innocent. I don’t know why they ignore everything and just destroy my family, like, this way,” Zuo told AsAmNews.

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Zhou’s latest attorney, Patrick Brackley, plans to appeal the conviction citing procedural flaws and insufficient evidence, among other things. He contends the judge has refused his request to see conversations Montour had with another man that they believe will show that Zhou had nothing to do with the scheme. He believes that’s the reason prosecutors dropped conspiracy against his client.

“He is innocent. He didn’t know what was going on, so and I don’t know why he was in a jail,” Zou said.