An Oklahoma man faces up to 12 years in prison on a Caribbean island after customs officials found ammunition in his luggage.
Ryan Watson traveled to Turks and Caicos with his wife Valerie to celebrate his 40th birthday on April 7. He went with two friends who were in their 40s.
The vacation ended abruptly when airport staff found a zip-locked bag containing pills in the couple’s carry-on luggage. Watson said it was hunting ammunition he accidentally brought with him – but under a tougher law in Turks and Caicos, a court can still impose a mandatory 12-year sentence.
“They were hunting with the ammunition I use for white-tailed deer,” Watson told NBC Boston in an interview conducted last week. which aired after his first court appearance on Tuesday.
“I recognized them, and I thought, ‘Oh, man, what a mistake it was that I didn’t know they were there,'” he said.
The couple were arrested and charged with possession of ammunition. The authorities confiscated their passports and informed them of the penalties they would face.
Valerie Watson said in the interview: “When I heard this, I was immediately scared, because I thought we were both not going to be in prison for 12 years. We have children at home, and this is a very innocent mistake.”
The charges against her were dropped, and she returned to her Oklahoma City home on Tuesday after a court hearing to be reunited with her two young children.
“Our goal is to bring Ryan home, because we can’t be a family without Dad,” she said.
The couple also talked about the financial burden of a much longer trip than planned. “This is something we’ll never recover from,” Ryan Watson said.
The U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas issued a warning to travelers in September about a law that strictly prohibits the possession of firearms or ammunition in Turks and Caicos, an overseas British territory southeast of the Bahamas, a popular vacation destination. Is the venue.
It says: “We would like to remind all passengers that declaring a weapon in your luggage with an airline carrier does not grant permission to bring a weapon into the TCI (Turks and Caicos Islands) and will result in your arrest. “
The embassy said: “If you bring firearms or ammunition to the TCI, we will not be able to secure your release from custody.”
The embassy and government in Turks and Caicos did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The same thing happened to another American from Pennsylvania, Brian Hegerich, who was arrested in February after ammunition was found in his luggage before trying to fly to Turks and Caicos. He said he left it in his bag by mistake.
Hagrich was on a family vacation with his wife and two young children but has now been in the country for 70 days. He spent eight days in jail before getting bail.
“It’s incredibly scary. You know, you don’t know what the next day might bring – you know which way it might go,” Hagrich told NBC Boston.
He said, “You know, it’s definitely a lot different than packing your bags and going away for a few days with your family. It’s been the worst 70 days of my life.”
Hegerich, once a professional baseball player, was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the MLB 2007 June amateur draft out of the University of Delaware.
His case will be heard on May 3.
