A couple from Michigan was released from a Mexican prison after spending almost a month behind bars for a payment dispute with a multi -ownership company.
Paul, 58, and Christy Akeo, 60, “were released from the guard and returned to Lansing, Michigan,” said a statement from their lawyers on April 3.
The Mexican state prosecutors of Quintana Roo accused the couple of having canceled 13 payments by credit card to a hotel chain worth around $ 116,500 in 2022, which said, said constituted fraudReported CNN.
The couple denied allegations, saying that their credit card company had reimbursed the amount when the vacation company, the palace company, did not provide promised services. A judge rejected the criminal case and ordered the couple’s release after the prosecutor of the State of Quintana Roo concluded an agreement with the Akeos and the multi -ownership company.
Under the terms of the agreement, $ 116,587.84 will be donated to a non -profit organization in Mexico for the benefit of orphaned children.
“Each party regrets that this incident has occurred,” said a joint declaration by the AKEOS and the Palace company.
The couple was placed in police custody shortly after their plane landed in Cancun on March 4 for allegedly defrauded the host company, Palace Elite Resorts. The company previously said that the couple had fraudded it thanks to $ 117,000 in retrofing on their American Express card after buying a subscription to myself several years earlier.
Palace Elite Resorts filed a complaint with the Mexican prosecutor, which led to the arrest of the Akeos.
The couple denied the allegations of the company and their law firm said that they were “detained in captivity for 32 days in Cereso Cancun prison”.
“Don’t be mistaken, what they do is that they hold two Americans hostage because they want them to pay money to them”, The couple’s lawyer John Manly said to CBS.
The Republican representative of Michigan, Tom Barrett, went to Mexico to visit the couple and bring them home.
Barrett Posted on X on April 2demanding “their release after learning yesterday from their deterioration in physical condition”.
“Enough, it is enough, after spending almost a month in a Mexican prison with maximum security for what is equivalent to a contractual dispute over a share of time, it has long been expected that the Mexican authorities disclose Paul and Christy,” wrote Barrett.
In Another messageBarrett said he had traveled directly to the prison where the akeos were held at landing in Mexico.
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“I have met them personally for an hour and I learned the horrible conditions that they face – burst walls, overcrowded cells, toilets that do not rinse and disgusting foods.
He said that after the meeting with the Akeos, he met the president of Quintana Roo Supreme Court to “accelerate any compensation that we can provide”.
A day later, Barrett Shared a video from the Akeos aboard an airplane To return to Michigan, by writing: “Paul and Christy Akeo go home. Mission accomplished. “
On March 24, the couple’s daughter Lindsey Hull said that her mother and stepfather were “detained without surety in a Mexican maximum security prison” In a Facebook publication.
“The last 21 days of being detained in captivity are the direct result of my parents who simply challenged the accusations of the unjustified credit card made by the Palace Company, alias Palace Resorts with American Express. American Express rose to the side of my mother and Paul in response to these unjustified accusations,” Hull wrote in a statement on March 24.
“The last 21 days of torture that my parents have crossed is a direct response to corruption, extortion, reprisals and blackmail of the Palais Society against our parents. The Palais company requires $ 250,000, the signing of an NDA which does not even guarantee their release, as well as a Facebook message made by our parents throughout the 3 weeks.
Hull said that the Palace company also demanded public apologies from her parents, which, she said, was “absolutely disgusting”.
“My mother and Paul are refused medical care, denied appropriate communication and publicly disseminated. They were detained in prison for 21 days and although they have asked to speak to Paul several times, we have no communication with him yet,” Hull wrote.
“My mother lost 25 pounds. In 20 days due to the inability to eat when the prison serves her food to which they are aware that she is allergic. She also has a severe rash on the whole body they refuse to treat,” she added.
Hull said that she had expressed her concerns to the American consulate in three weeks, but they would not have organized visits with American citizens imprisoned until “17 days after their imprisonment”.
“In other words, the American consulate and the United States Embassy were simply useless,” added Hull.
She said that her family had spent “thousands and thousands of dollars towards Mexican legal representation”.
“But unfortunately, this only goes so far when we deal with this level of corruption and extortion. We also responded to the previous requests given to us by the Palace company and yet they had no serious response to the release of our parents,” said Hull in his post.
Hull shared a video of his parents returning home April 4, writing: “When mom and dad are finally at home after 30 days !!!”
After their return, the couple’s lawyers thanked the special envoy Adam Boehler, American president Donald Trump and Barrett, calling him “hero in my book”.
“President Trump, I know that he personally got involved in this and that he wanted home, so I give him a lot of credit,” Manly said to cnn. “No American should have to bear what these people have endured. But for these three men, I think they would always be sitting there.”
In a statement, Hull thanked the government’s representatives for helping to organize the release of his parents and noted Barrett’s efforts.
“He went to Cancun at great personal risks, camped in prison and clearly said that he would not go home without them,” she said in a declaration April 3. “His heroic efforts as a veteran represent the most beautiful traditions of the army of our nation never to leave an American behind.”
“No American should be held hostage to the requests of a private company all over the world,” she said.
Hull added that his parents will be treated for “diseases and trauma” which were inflicted on them during their captivity.
– With reuters files
