Great news for our soldier, it does not mention if his firearms were returned. I wonder when it says he was released to U.S Officials, whether he will face charges in the U.S.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D910CCG00.html
05/31/2008
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL / Associated Press
A U.S. soldier jailed in Mexico on weapons charges has been released, Mexican authorities said Friday.
Spc. Richard Torres spent more than a month in a Mexican jail after being arrested April 21 after he has said he accidentally crossed the border in El Paso with an AR-15 assault rifle, a .45-caliber handgun and 171 bullets in his car.
In a statement released Friday, a spokesman for the Center for Social Readaption jail in Ciudad Juarez said Torres, a 25-year-old Iraq war veteran, was released to U.S. authorities Friday afternoon.
Torres had faced a gun-possession charge.
Torres' mother, Gloria Medina, said in a phone interview Friday night that a Mexican judge hearing the case threw out the charge, allowing Torres to be released Friday afternoon.
"The U.S. consulate called and said, 'I've got good news for you, Richard's being released,'" Medina told The Associated Press on Friday.
She said she spoke to her son on Friday and he was planning to drive to California after stopping for dinner in El Paso. A cell phone number for Torres was out of service on Friday.
Gloria Medina said neither she nor her son are harboring any ill feelings toward Mexico.
"I am just glad they have finally seen the light," she said.
Medina said Torres' 1999 Honda Prelude was released to the Army earlier this month and had been stored at Fort Bliss.
Torres said in previous interviews that he was headed home to Fresno, Calif., from Fort Hood, in Central Texas, when he decided to stop in El Paso and walk across the border to grab breakfast in Ciudad Juarez, a hardscrabble border city plagued with violence. Misunderstanding directions from a gas station attendant after driving all night, Torres said he accidentally crossed the border while looking for a place to park.
"It was just an accident, I didn't mean to drive over here," Torres said a day after he was arrested.
Torres, who speaks no Spanish, said he tried to explain his mistake to a Mexican border guard who told him to keep driving into Mexico to a U-turn spot just beyond the border. But about 15 feet later, Torres said, he was stopped by Mexican federal authorities who asked if he had guns or drugs in the car.
"The first thing, I showed them my military ID card," Torres told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this month from jail.
But his status as a U.S. soldier didn't make any difference. It is illegal to carry guns or ammunition into Mexico. Several signs along highways and roads leading to the border in El Paso warn drivers that it is a serious crime to take weapons into Mexico.
Torres said he was concentrating on finding a parking lot and didn't see the signs.
Investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded that Torres, who was transferring to an Army unit based in Honduras when he was arrested, was not smuggling weapons into Mexico to sell them.
Medina said Torres will have a few weeks to spend at home before he reports back to Fort Hood and eventually to his next assignment in Honduras.
"It's just the greatest news I've had in a long time," Medina said.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D910CCG00.html
05/31/2008
By ALICIA A. CALDWELL / Associated Press
A U.S. soldier jailed in Mexico on weapons charges has been released, Mexican authorities said Friday.
Spc. Richard Torres spent more than a month in a Mexican jail after being arrested April 21 after he has said he accidentally crossed the border in El Paso with an AR-15 assault rifle, a .45-caliber handgun and 171 bullets in his car.
In a statement released Friday, a spokesman for the Center for Social Readaption jail in Ciudad Juarez said Torres, a 25-year-old Iraq war veteran, was released to U.S. authorities Friday afternoon.
Torres had faced a gun-possession charge.
Torres' mother, Gloria Medina, said in a phone interview Friday night that a Mexican judge hearing the case threw out the charge, allowing Torres to be released Friday afternoon.
"The U.S. consulate called and said, 'I've got good news for you, Richard's being released,'" Medina told The Associated Press on Friday.
She said she spoke to her son on Friday and he was planning to drive to California after stopping for dinner in El Paso. A cell phone number for Torres was out of service on Friday.
Gloria Medina said neither she nor her son are harboring any ill feelings toward Mexico.
"I am just glad they have finally seen the light," she said.
Medina said Torres' 1999 Honda Prelude was released to the Army earlier this month and had been stored at Fort Bliss.
Torres said in previous interviews that he was headed home to Fresno, Calif., from Fort Hood, in Central Texas, when he decided to stop in El Paso and walk across the border to grab breakfast in Ciudad Juarez, a hardscrabble border city plagued with violence. Misunderstanding directions from a gas station attendant after driving all night, Torres said he accidentally crossed the border while looking for a place to park.
"It was just an accident, I didn't mean to drive over here," Torres said a day after he was arrested.
Torres, who speaks no Spanish, said he tried to explain his mistake to a Mexican border guard who told him to keep driving into Mexico to a U-turn spot just beyond the border. But about 15 feet later, Torres said, he was stopped by Mexican federal authorities who asked if he had guns or drugs in the car.
"The first thing, I showed them my military ID card," Torres told The Associated Press in an interview earlier this month from jail.
But his status as a U.S. soldier didn't make any difference. It is illegal to carry guns or ammunition into Mexico. Several signs along highways and roads leading to the border in El Paso warn drivers that it is a serious crime to take weapons into Mexico.
Torres said he was concentrating on finding a parking lot and didn't see the signs.
Investigators with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded that Torres, who was transferring to an Army unit based in Honduras when he was arrested, was not smuggling weapons into Mexico to sell them.
Medina said Torres will have a few weeks to spend at home before he reports back to Fort Hood and eventually to his next assignment in Honduras.
"It's just the greatest news I've had in a long time," Medina said.
