A 30-year-old American man was arrested last weekend in Turks and Caicos after ammunition was allegedly found in his luggage, CBS News has learned. the last of several Americans in recent months, who found themselves in a similar situation on British territory.
Tyler Wenrich was taken into custody after authorities allegedly found two bullets in his backpack on April 20 as he prepared to board a cruise ship.
Possession of a firearm or ammunition is prohibited in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but previously tourists could often only pay a fine. However, in February a court ruling ordered that even tourists leaving the country could face prison time.
The Virginia EMT and his father now face a mandatory minimum prison sentence of up to 12 years.
“I feel, as a very honest mistake, that 12 years is absurd,” his wife, Jeriann Wenrich, told CBS News on Friday.
Wenrich says her husband had been on the island less than a day when the arrest took place.
“My son is only 18 months old and I just don’t want him to grow up without a dad,” Wenrich said.
At least four American tourists now face lengthy prison sentences on similar charges, including a 72-year-old man, Michael Lee Evans, who was arrested in December and pleaded guilty to possessing seven rounds of ammunition. He appeared in court Wednesday via video conference. Currently out on bail in the United States on medical grounds, Evans is scheduled to appear in June for a sentencing hearing. A fifth person, Michael Grim of Indiana, served nearly six months in prison after pleading guilty to mistakenly bringing ammunition in his checked luggage for a vacation.
Ryan Watson, 40, father of two from Oklahoma, was released from a Turks and Caicos Islands prison on $15,000 bail Wednesday. After a birthday vacation with his wife, he was arrested on April 12 when airport security allegedly found four rounds of hunting ammunition in his carry-on bag earlier that month.
His wife, Valerie Watson, returned home to Oklahoma on Tuesday after learning she would not be charged. However, as part of her bail agreement, her husband must remain on the island and report every Tuesday and Thursday to the Grace Bay police station while his case progresses.
In an interview Friday from the island, Ryan Watson told CBS News he checked the bag before packing it.
“I opened it and I kind of rattled it a little bit, I didn’t see anything, I didn’t hear anything,” he said.
The TSA also acknowledged that agents missed the ammunition when Watson’s bag was screened at the checkpoint on April 7 at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City.
In a statement provided to CBS News on Friday, a TSA spokesperson said “four rounds were not detected” in Watson’s bag “during security screening.”
The spokesperson said “there was an oversight that the agency is in the process of addressing internally.”
“It was my mistake,” Ryan Watson said. “It was very innocent. And I pray for that, with compassion and consideration, because there was no criminal intent.”
In a statement released Friday, the Turks and Caicos Islands government said it “reserves the right to enforce its laws and all visitors must follow its law enforcement procedures.”
Following CBS News’ reporting on Ryan Watson earlier this week, the State Department reissued a warning to American tourists traveling to the Turks and Caicos Islands to “carefully check their luggage for lost ammunition or forgotten weapons.”
Kris Van Cleave
Grub5
