U.S. Marine veteran Andrew Tahmooressi found himself in Tijuana accidentally after missing the last freeway exit before entering Mexico. After Mexican guards at the border found firearms in his truck, The Associated Press reports, Tahmooressi was thrown in jail on weapons charges.
Now, Tahmooressi is giving his first interview from Tijuana's La Mesa Penitentiary since getting locked up March 31. He told U-T TV reporter Sandra Dibble his situation felt desperate from the get-go:
"I was nervous, you know, because I was missing my family. Seemed like no one really cared for me there too much, so it didn't seem like I had any help at all. And, the people in there, they started messing with me. They like, uh, they tried to make me more scared than I already was. They weren't helping me at all."
The predicament in which Tahmooressi finds himself is reminiscent of what Marine veteran Jon Hammar endured in 2012. As Home Post reported then, Hammar was headed to Costa Rica on a surfing trip, but was arrested in Mexico when he declared an antique firearm (that once belonged to his great-grandfather) to Mexican Customs agents.
Hammar was released back to the United States after four months in prison, thanks in part to a feisty public media campaign launched by his parents.
10News reports Congressmen Scott Peters and Duncan Hunter have both contacted Secretary of State John Kerry, urging the State Department to make a diplomatic intervention on behalf of Tahmooressi.
Here's the full jailhouse interview with Tahmooressi:
