American tourist faces possible 12-year prison sentence after ammunition found in his luggage in Turks and Caicos Islands

Valerie Watson returned to Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport in tears Tuesday morning, in a drastic change from how she imagined her long weekend trip to the Turks and Caicos Islands would end.

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

“We were trying to pack shorts and flip flops,” Valerie Watson told CBS News. “Packing ammunition was not our intention at all.”

Valerie Watson, who learned Sunday that he 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 who go through this terrible experience.

Bryan Hagerich is awaiting trial after ammunition was found in the Pennsylvania man’s checked bag in February.

“I then spent eight nights in the local jail. Frankly, it was one of the darkest and most difficult times of my life,” Hagerich said. “These last 70 days have been like a roller coaster, just the pain and suffering of having your family at home and me here.”

Possession of weapons or ammunition is prohibited in Turks and Caicos, but tourists used to simply pay a fine. However, in February, a court order ordered that even tourists in the process of leaving the country be subject to prison sentences.

Since November 2022, eight firearms and ammunition proceedings in total involving tourists from the United States have been brought, three of which are currently before court with each of the defendants out on bail.

Last year, a judge found that Michael Grim of Indiana had “exceptional circumstances” when he pleaded guilty to accidentally having ammunition in his checked bag. He served almost six months in prison.

“There’s no clean running water. You’re exposed to the environment 24/7,” he told CBS News. “Mosquitoes and tropical diseases are a real concern. There are some hostile actors in the prison.”

The judge hoped to send a message to other Americans.

“(His) sentence was based entirely on the fact that I was an American,” Grim said.

Last September, the U.S. Embassy posted a travel alert online, warning people to “check their luggage for lost ammunition,” noting that it “could not 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 the Turks and Caicos Islands. When a U.S. citizen is arrested abroad, we stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance. In a foreign country, U.S. citizens are subject to the laws of that country, even if they differ from those of the United States.”

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

“I can’t even begin to think that this innocent, regrettable mistake would prevent me from seeing my son graduate or teaching him how to shave or taking my daughter dancing,” Ryan Watson said. “It’s just unfathomable. I…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 exist, the judge must impose a prison sentence.