Americans arrested in Turks and Caicos on munitions charges form close bonds as they await sentencing

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos — The airport was bustling as Ryan Watson and his wife prepared to return home to Oklahoma after celebrating his 40th birthday on the white sands of the archipelago.

A search of his gym bag slowed things down, but two of his friends who had come over were pestering him for it: he had accidentally left a few hunting cartridges in the bag – a rookie mistake, but no big deal, he thought. -he.

But a law enforcement officer confronted the tourist and stopped his world from turning, as authorities had done in recent months with four other American travelers to the island, informing him that possession of ammunition is a serious crime that could put years between him and the tourist. the couple’s children, a 7-year-old boy and a 9-year-old girl, are waiting for them at home.

Watson and Sharitta Grier, two of five Americans recently detained in the Turks and Caicos Islands under a law banning possession of firearms or ammunition, spoke to NBC News on Thursday ahead of Friday’s sentencing of Bryan Hagerich, a American citizen who was arrested in a similar situation in February.

The three are former strangers who formed a close bond while living together in an Airbnb on the island, out on bail and awaiting sentencing.

“A very innocent mistake”

On April 12, at Howard Hamilton International Airport, Ryan and Valerie Watson were still expecting to return home. The seriousness of the allegations had not struck the tropics of their minds.

“You just don’t understand,” the man with the badge said, in plain clothes, according to Ryan Watson. “He told me you were both arrested and going to prison for 12 years.”

This is the minimum penalty for possession of ammunition in the country.

For Watson, disbelief turned to pleading, then to a little relief. His wife faced the same situation because her makeup bag was found in the sports bag containing hunting cartridges, he said.

During questioning, he told authorities the bullets belonged to him, possibly from a fall deer hunting trip. “Her makeup bag just happened to be in my bag,” he said.

Valerie Watson was free to go home.

Since then, in conversations, Ryan Watson has said his biggest ask of his wife is to “do everything in his power to let them know their dad is not a bad guy.”

“It was just a very innocent mistake,” he said.

Another American arrested

In the days and weeks following Watson’s arrest, he leaned on an unlikely circle for support, including the man he had hired as a driver on his birthday trip, who put the title of his vehicle – his livelihood – as security for his deposit. on Watson.

And then he found Grier, the latest American woman arrested after authorities in the Turks and Caicos Islands said they discovered a few rounds of ammunition in a bag.

“I was so scared, like I was in shock, that I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I couldn’t understand what was happening.”

Grier made the local news and Watson had to find her, even though it was unclear where she was being held. Grier was traveling with her daughters on their first trip to the country, for Mother’s Day, when she was arrested at Howard Hamilton Airport while trying to board a flight home on May 13 .

Like Watson, she took the allegations lightly until their weight diminished. She said she was handcuffed to a chair for three days because there were no empty cells available.

“I couldn’t move,” she said. “I couldn’t turn around.”

Watson said he had to find her.

“I knew what she was going through,” he said. “This situation is extremely overwhelming. The complexity of it. It doesn’t seem real.”

Grier prayed that God would send him someone, a guardian. And there was Watson’s mother, in tears, Grier said. They found her.

“Once we made eye contact, she was crying,” Grier said. “I was crying. It was like a big relief.”

The Americans said sharing an experience gave them a better understanding of the darkness of the episode as they awaited prosecution, alongside Hagerich, in their Airbnb.

“We’re a huge brotherhood, and it’s the strangest brotherhood I’ve ever been involved in, but, you know, we all send prayers and support to each other,” Watson said.

Ryan gave Grier his room, which had a bathroom, and they have coffee together every day.

“We review every day what’s ahead of us,” Watson said.

Severe penalty

All of the Americans are free on bail and have pleaded guilty except Grier, who has not pleaded guilty, officials said, and none have been convicted.

Michael Lee Evans, a Texas man jailed in December, returned to the United States for medical reasons ahead of his scheduled sentencing next month.

A plea hearing for Tyler Wenrich, also arrested in April, was held Tuesday. The judge’s decision is expected to be issued within 7 days of the hearing, according to the clerk of the Turks and Caicos Islands Supreme Court.

Watson is due to be heard in June. Grier’s next court date will be in July.

US lawmakers tried to facilitate the release of the Americans, sending a delegation to the islands on Monday. A statement from the governor’s office after their visit reiterated that the laws prohibiting firearms and ammunition are clear and that “strict sanctions are in place to serve and protect all who reside in and visit the Turks and Caicos Islands.”

But he added that “Where the court considers that exceptional circumstances exist, the sentencing judge has the discretion under the law to impose a custodial sentence and fine which is just and just in the circumstances of each case rather than imposing mandatory duty. minimum.”

Turks and Caicos Prime Minister Washington Misick reiterated that point this week and said no American had been sentenced to a full 12 years in prison – a sentence that was increased by seven years in of the arms and ammunition crackdown in the country in 2022, none of which has been issued there.

“That’s my brother over there.”

The family awaits Hagerich’s sentencing, expected Friday, with the hope that his sentence will tell them something about their own case.

“That’s my brother over there,” Watson said. “I think it will shed some light on what could potentially happen in our cases, but it’s not a guarantee. So we keep joking that if he goes to prison, I want to go there as quickly as possible so we can be cellmates.

For these compatriots, people are better than place.

“It’s the strangest thing being in this beautiful setting,” Watson said. “You know, you see beaches and sand and palm trees and it has now become my prison.”