Mormon mother-of-seven is falsely held in Mexican prison for smuggling marijuana

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http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/2...-mexico?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

"They were there for a funeral and it turned into a nightmare," said Anna Soto.

Soto says her mother, Yannira Maldonado, is being wrongly detained in Mexico.

She visited her in a Nogales prison Saturday.

"She started crying and...she's like, 'I have faith that people will help us, that we will get out of this together as a family'," said Soto.

Maldonado and her husband were on their way back to Phoenix from her aunt's funeral in Mexico when the Tufesa bus they took was stopped at a checkpoint near Hermosillo.

The federales searched the bus and say they found drugs under a seat that the Mormon couple was sitting in.

He says the federales first charged him for the drugs, then let him go and charged his wife instead.

A Mexican attorney advised the couple to offer cash.

She has a hearing in front of a judge Monday.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2331593/Yanira-Maldonado-Family-claims-Mormon-mother-seven-falsely-held-Mexico-drug-smuggling.html?ico=ushome^editors_choice_six_of_th e_best

A couple of days after her arrest, she was transferred to a women's jail in Nogales, but the family was not informed. When her husband went to visit her, he was told she had been sent elsewhere.
'He panicked,' his brother, Klippel, said. 'He told me terror struck him. And he thought, for that period of time, that he'd never see his wife again.'
But on Saturday, he tracked her down to the holding cell and visited with one of their sons.
'She had a rough night,' Klippel said. 'Their interrogation included putting her in a non-air-conditioned room and waking her up several times in the middle of night – trying to get her to sign documents that she said she couldn't read.'
Senator Jeff Flake's office said he is personally monitoring the situation and has spoken with the deputy Mexican ambassador.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/381326221977709/

[video=youtube;EsGsP6PLotc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsGsP6PLotc[/video]
 
Some of the Hispanic people we have known from our church said they are often stopped by the police and accused with false charges when they return to Mexico for visits. They said if you don't want to go through an ordeal, you slip the crooked police some cash and they let you go. Even though the person commited no crime, its easier than fighting the charges. I'm afraid to go to Mexico after all the tales I have heard. I'm glad things don't work that way in the US (usually).
 
We need Mamacita in here! She may have some insight into the Mexican "justice" system. I've never heard a good story about being stopped by the Federales and it seems bribing is sort of the standard when it comes to dealing with them. MOO
 
I guess the corrupt and drug people want to totally ruin their country. No one visiting relatives there and no tourists, along with making their own people want to get out.
 
What a travesty!!
NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING, could make me go to Mexico.
The State Dept. has warned and warned US citizens to STAY OUT.

I would not even go on a cruise which listed a port of call in the Mexican Riviera. I don't think the country will ever be safe again, either. The drug lords have way too much power.
 
What a travesty!!
NOTHING, and I do mean NOTHING, could make me go to Mexico.
The State Dept. has warned and warned US citizens to STAY OUT.

I would not even go on a cruise which listed a port of call in the Mexican Riviera. I don't think the country will ever be safe again, either. The drug lords have way too much power.

So sad isn't it? The Rivera is such. Beautiful place too.
 
I love Mexico and will continue to vacation there:) I'm not deterred.


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I highly doubt that this woman 'smuggled' several pounds of pot in a trash bag on a public bus. That makes no sense at all. I hope they let her go soon. This is pathetic.

With all of the 'legal' pot available in the local pot dispensaries, the cost of weed has gone way down. Dealers are not making a lot of $ on it anymore. That is why pills and heroin are back on the move. :frown:
 
I routinely travel to Monterrey and Mexico City. Ten years ago I could walk around those cities and feel safe. Not anymore. My crew and I have a security escort to the hotel and we do not venture out.
 
The Mexican Federales ordered everyone off the bus & Voila! found a package under her seat. I don't believe she did it. Mexico is known for corrupt police. Who would believe anything the Mexican police have to say?
 
We need Mamacita in here! She may have some insight into the Mexican "justice" system. I've never heard a good story about being stopped by the Federales and it seems bribing is sort of the standard when it comes to dealing with them. MOO

thank you kaliste for bringing this thread to my attention! i'll start rambling here: lol.

i just to happened to see a snip of this on our local news (San Diego channel) this morning. but i didn't catch the entire story. i didn't realize that it was a tour bus that they were riding in. the thing is... the bus driver needs to be seriously checked out. they most likely know the drug lords that put the drugs in the seats. the whereabouts of this bus before picking up the tourists needs to be looked into. something tells me that this bus has been used in many more smuggling trips. what better way to transport your drug supply than on a tourist bus that goes through many towns & locations? free gas. they don't have to risk sending a worker out in a car to transport the goods when they can just use a bus that's going to their desired destination.

many buses down here are very old and need servicing pretty often. was this bus recently serviced? i can see where a bus servicing company would get involved in implanting drugs in these travelling buses... especially if they were getting handouts from the cartel. it's a shady business, but when you're busting your butt working trying to run a company in a 3rd world country and making just a few bucks per hour on your hard labor, the idea of doing a little more work for cash payout can be appealing. especially if your stomach is always growling and you've got a family to feed.

the judge has until Friday (tomorrow?) to make his decision on this case? i think the odds are that he will rule in favor of Yanira. it can't be proved that she put the drugs there, in a spot that ANYONE could have sat on on this PUBLIC/tourist bus. many more people had access to that bus and the seat(s). i'll be praying that this judge finds kindness in his heart to know that she would have so much more to lose of found guilty in this case than even what the drugs were worth.

mexico is only a scary place if you deal with the wrong people. what happened here? she's an innocent bystander. the problem is, she accidentally and unknowingly got involved with public transportation that is most likely involved in the transportation of drugs. it could happen to anyone. it could have been a mexican citizen sitting in her spot that got "busted". unfortunately i believe this will keep her from returning to mexico to visit her family again in the future. the feds have to place blame on the drugs to someone, so the most likely person to them would be the person who was sitting right on top of the drugs. the fact that they failed to show up to the hearing tells me that they probably realize that they took the easy way out in the blame game. we just have to hope and pray now that the judge will understand that, as a tourist, you don't have much choice as to the goings-on surrounding the tour bus that you just so happened to ride on while on your vacation.
 
i will also throw this out there: it is common knowledge here in mexico that buying a cop off is typically done when it's your local police department. feds are the next level up and very often, you will be punished even harder for attempting to buy them off. they don't want to be thought of as crooked. even more tough than the feds are the military police. don't even think about offering to buy them off if they bust you for something. they walk a straight(er) line than other law enforcement, and they have absolutely ZERO tolerance for the cartel and drugs. i think the feds were just trying to do their job here, but someone made a pretty dumb assumption when they decided to arrest this woman, as opposed to the bus owner/driver.
 
Heard today on the national news that the cops that made the arrest didn't even show up for court. The news thought that is a good sign that this lady will be released and all this will go away. Pray they are right.
 
I hope they let her go and realize she had nothing to do with it.

I haven't been to Mexico in years but still have some family there. Things are so out of hand and the criminals are brazen and well, there's no other way to put it but insane.

There was a case in El Paso (I think) where a teacher was in jail for some time. Turns out in crossing, her car was found to be loaded with drugs. She didn't put them there. One theory is someone watched her and figured out her schedule. She worked in El Paso and went there daily (people do this). Loaded the stuff on her car and expected to unload when she arrived at her destination. Except it didn't happen that way.

Generally, nobody thinks this is the first time something like that has happened. How frightening is that??? I can't even begin to list what's so horrifying about it.

;(
 
I hope they let her go and realize she had nothing to do with it.

I haven't been to Mexico in years but still have some family there. Things are so out of hand and the criminals are brazen and well, there's no other way to put it but insane.

There was a case in El Paso (I think) where a teacher was in jail for some time. Turns out in crossing, her car was found to be loaded with drugs. She didn't put them there. One theory is someone watched her and figured out her schedule. She worked in El Paso and went there daily (people do this). Loaded the stuff on her car and expected to unload when she arrived at her destination. Except it didn't happen that way.

Generally, nobody thinks this is the first time something like that has happened. How frightening is that??? I can't even begin to list what's so horrifying about it.

;(

yes, this happens. they'll sometimes use super heavy duty magnets to attach the drugs to the bottom of your car securely (which also makes it super quick to put on and take off). i check under my car often when i'm headed back to the US.
 
Arizona Mom Yanira Maldonado to Be Released From Jail, Family Spokesperson Says

http://abcnews.go.com/US/arizona-mo...y-spokesperson/story?id=19293807#.UahCgtitwf4

"On Thursday, court officials reviewed video of Maldonado and her husband, Gary, boarding the bus in Mexico with only blankets and bottles of water in their hands. The family's lawyer in Nogales, Mexico told reporters that he was "100 percent" confident Maldonado would be released after a judge reviewed the video from the bus company. "
 

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