(CMR) A US visitor in the Turks and Caicos Islands is facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years behind bars after airport security found four rounds of hunting ammunition in his carry-on bag.
Possessing a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists were previously often able to pay a fine. In February, however, a court order mandated that even tourists in the process of leaving the country are subject to prison time.
Ryan Watson was leaving the country with his wife earlier this month after their vacation when he was arrested for ammunition. He was the only one charged.
According to CBS News, his wife, Valerie Watson, returned to Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport in tears on Tuesday morning as her husband, Ryan Watson, remains in jail on the island.
“We were trying to pack board shorts and flip-flops. Packing ammunition was not at all our intent,” Valerie Watson told CBS News.
Valerie Watson, who learned Sunday she would not be charged and would be allowed to return home, said the trip “went from what was supposed to be a dream vacation to a nightmare.”
The Watsons are not the only ones going through this ordeal.
Bryan Hagerich is awaiting trial after ammo was found in the Pennsylvania man's checked bag in February.
“I subsequently spent eight nights in their local jail. Some of the darkest, hardest times of my life, quite frankly. These last 70 days have been kind of a roller coaster, just the pain and suffering of having your family at home, and I'm here,” Hagerich said.
Since November 2022, eight firearms and ammunition prosecutions in total have been brought involving tourists in TCI from the United States, three of which are currently before the court, with each of the defendants on bail.
Last year, a judge found Michael Grim from Indiana had “exceptional circumstances” when he pleaded guilty to accidentally having ammunition in his checked bag. He served almost six months in prison.
“No clean running water. You're kind of exposed to the environment 24/7,” he told CBS News. “Mosquitoes and tropical illnesses are a real concern. There's some hostile actors in the prison.”
The judge, who said his sentence was based entirely on the fact he is American, was hoping to send a message to other Americans.
The U.S. embassy last September posted a travel alert online, warning people to “check your luggage for stray ammunition,” noting it would “not be able to secure your release from custody.”
In a statement, a State Department spokesperson told CBS News, “We are aware of the arrest of U.S. citizens in Turks and Caicos. When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to that country's laws, even if they differ from those in the United States.”
“I can't even begin to think that this very innocent, regrettable mistake would prevent me from being able to watch my son graduate or teach him to shave or take my daughter to dances,” —I. “It's just unfathomable. I do not — I can't process it.”Ryan Watson said, according to CBS News.
The Turks and Caicos government confirmed the law in a statement to CBS News, reiterating that the judge must mandate prison time even if extenuating circumstances are present.
The Cayman Islands, over the years, have imposed a fine on tourists caught with ammunition. A retired US Army lieutenant colonel who was intercepted with a loaded magazine in his luggage at the Owen Roberts International Airport last month was fined $22,500 by the Summary Court.
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