Michigan couple back home from Mexican prison

Yahoo

04-04-2025

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — Michigan couple Paul and Christy Akeo, who spent almost a month behind bars in a maximum-security prison in Mexico, are now back stateside.
Their return to Michigan comes after a Thursday court hearing in which the court ruled that the Akeos were to be released from custody. The Akeos and U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett say they are no longer facing charges, and the entire case against them has been dropped.
The pair was initially arrested on March 4 at an airport in Cancún on fraud allegations. They were accused of defrauding resort chain Palace Elite out of more than $116,000 by breaching a timeshare contract and illegally cancelling membership charges to an American Express credit card.
Nexstar's WLNS spoke with Michael Lemke, the Akeos' son, who said his parents could have been held for up to six months, as a judge had previously given the company that much time to gather evidence.
The Akeos' release comes a day after Barrett visited the couple in prison. Barrett told WLNS he also spoke with the president of the Quintana Roo Supreme Court to work on getting the couple released.
'We are so happy that it's over,' said Christy Akeo.
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Paul Akeo shared what happened after police arrested the couple on March 4th.
'We were whisked off to another facility and then we were sent directly to prison. We weren't able to talk to anybody, didn't have any contact with lawyers, didn't have our phones, so we were just sitting there,' said Paul.
The two say days went by before they could talk to their family or even each other. Now, they're sharing what their time spent inside a maximum security prison in Mexico was like.
'It's awful. It's nothing like you would ever want to go through, it's unbelievable. The language barrier is unreal,' said Christy Akeo.
Barrett, too, shared what he saw in the prison when he visited the couple in Mexico.
'I walked through part of the interior of the prison, and it was enough for me to see that no person would want to be detained there, no American should have to go through that, especially under the conditions they were in for the amount of time that they were,' the congressman said.
Barrett said he met with Mexican officials, who arranged a hearing Thursday. That's when the charges against the Akeos were dropped.
'There were some things that were getting a little uncertain at the end and we were able to resolve those quickly, took a lot of effort from all parties involved,' said Rep. Barrett.
The congressman added that every level of both the United States and Mexican governments were involved in this conversation, including President Donald Trump.
'The president was very excited to hear this and expressed his excitement and welcomed them back to America,' Congressman Barrett said.
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Christy Akeo said now that the couple is home, the first thing she is going to do is take a shower.
'Be thankful for what America has given us,' Paul Akeo said. 'And just be thankful for the little things.'
Thursday evening, WLNS received a statement from the Akeo children, saying:
'The Akeo family wishes to thank President Donald J. Trump, his Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler and Congressman Tom Barrett (R-Lansing) for working tirelessly for the release of Paul and Christy Akeo. We also want to express our deepest gratitude to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mark Coolidge Johnson, Charge d 'Affaires, U.S. Embassy Mission Mexico and his dedicated team. Through four straight weeks of fear and uncertainty, Congressman Barrett's commitment to bringing our parents' home safely provided us with hope and reassurance. He traveled to Cancun at great personal risk, camped out at the prison and made it clear that he would not return home without them. His heroic efforts as a veteran represent the finest traditions of our nation's military to never leave an American behind. No American should be held hostage to the demands of a private company anywhere in the world. Paul and Christy are under the care of physicians and therapists to be treated for illnesses and trauma inflicted upon them during their captivity. We ask that their privacy be respected as they rest and heal. The family will have much more to say about this ordeal in the coming days.'
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