XPost: alt.travel.vacation-reports, uk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh XPost: talk.politics.guns, sac.politics

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/turks-and-caicos-ammo-prison-sentence- american-tourists/

Valerie Watson returned to Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport in
tears on Tuesday morning in a drastic departure from how she imagined her
long weekend trip to Turks and Caicos would end.

Watson is home, but her husband, Ryan Watson, is in jail on the island and facing a potential mandatory minimum sentence of 12 years behind bars
after airport security allegedly found four rounds of hunting ammo in his carry-on bag earlier this month.

"We were trying to pack board shorts and flip flops," Valerie Watson told
CBS News. "Packing ammunition was not at all our intent."

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," Hagerich said. "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."

Possessing a gun or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but
tourists were previously often able to just 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.

Since November 2022, eight firearms and ammunition prosecutions in total
have been brought involving tourists 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 was hoping to send a message to other Americans.

"[His] sentencing was completely predicated on the fact that I was an American," Grim said.

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."

Last year, TSA found a record 6,737 guns at airport security checkpoints,
and most of them were loaded.

"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," Ryan Watson said. "It's just unfathomable. I do not — I can't process it."

The Turks and Caicos government responded to CBS News in a lengthy
statement confirming the law and reiterating that, even if extenuating circumstances are found to be present, the judge is required to mandate
prison time.


--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.

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