Paradise Prison: Chapter 3

Summary

Blood Trails – Paradise Prison: Chapter 3

Podcast: Blood Trails (MeatEater)
Host: Jordan Sillars
Release Date: August 6, 2026

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode continues the multi-part true crime miniseries, diving deep into the harrowing saga of American hunters arrested in Turks and Caicos for inadvertently carrying ammunition. After revealing the prison conditions and political inertia in prior chapters, host Jordan Sillars investigates how the detainees' bold decision to fight back against a confusing legal system placed not only them but also their families in peril. The episode details their collective choice to go public, the resulting media firestorm, bomb threats, actual attempts on their lives, and the eventual involvement of Congressional heavyweights. It’s a tense, emotional story about risk, advocacy, and the limits of justice far from home.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Escalation: Threats and a Close Call

• Aftermath of Arrests: The Americans realized that their detention was intended as a message to other U.S. tourists. Locals and media turned against them, amplifying their sense of isolation.

• Physical Danger:

  • Ryan Watson recounts being targeted while jogging:

    "Something grabs my heel, it spins me. I do a 180, I land on my face... I just got hit by a car." — Ryan Watson (03:25)

  • The driver attempted to back up and hit him a second time. Watson attributed this to rising hostility as the case became a political flashpoint.

• Bomb Threats:

  • May 2024 saw 17 bomb threats, most referencing the detained Americans, with escalating emails threatening attacks and assassination.
  • Local media accused the Americans of orchestrating these threats, making them lightning rods for public anger and direct threats (06:03).

2. Media Strategy: Risk and Reluctance

• Discussing Going Public:

  • Ryan’s wife's contact (an NBC anchor) paved the way for national coverage.
  • Legal counsel and peers warned that publicizing the story could lead to harsher punishment, even death (10:21).

    "He said, don't do it. He said, it's a death sentence... You're talking about economic warfare. And he said, they will kill you." — Michael Grimm, as recounted by Ryan Watson (10:21)

• Turning Point:

  • Ultimately, Ryan, his fellow detainees, and Valerie (his wife) chose to pursue media exposure, betting everything on public sympathy and pressure (12:11–13:10).

3. Impact at Home: Repercussions on Families

• Homecoming’s Bittersweet Edge: Valerie recounted the pain of reuniting with her kids while her husband remained imprisoned (14:03).

  • She describes breaking the truth to their young children and coping with their emotional turmoil (15:03).

• Threats and Harassment:

  • Valerie and other families were doxxed and threatened online and by text (17:20).

  "People were making threats against my wife, saying... she's free game." — Ryan Watson (17:46)

  • Extortion attempts targeted desperate families, often masquerading as authorities promising release for payment (19:44).

• Contemplating Escape:

  • The Americans considered—but ultimately rejected—plans such as fleeing by boat or helicopter, given extradition risks and the lifelong impact on their families (21:01–22:25).

  "It started to feel like a selfish act...I didn't want to bring that hurt to my family." — Ryan Watson (22:11)

4. Political Pressure: The Congressional Delegation (CODEL) and State Department

• Catalyzing Government Action:

  • Media coverage finally forced some response. A leaked dismissive email from the U.S. Embassy to Michael Grimm’s mother incited public outrage and a State Dept. apology (25:37–26:55).

  • Senator Mullen and Representative Brackeen spearheaded a bipartisan Congressional trip (CODEL) to press Turks and Caicos officials (27:48–30:09).

    "You’re having influence on that island." — Sen. Markwayne Mullen (27:48)

• Sharita Greer’s Detention:

  • The CODEL was shocked by the inhumane treatment of Sharita Greer, a grandmother detained for two 9mm rounds, shackled to a chair.
  • Her story crystallized the case’s injustice and became a tool in political negotiations (31:49–34:59).

• UK Leverage:

  • U.S. representatives pressured UK officials to intervene, given Turks and Caicos’s status as a British territory. This diplomatic angle became crucial (43:31–44:30).

5. Legal Fallout and Sentencing

• Unpredictable Court Outcomes:

  • Despite "mandatory" 12-year minimum sentences, judges suspended sentences and imposed fines, likely swayed by public pressure (52:42–54:49).

    "When she said suspended sentence, I knew what that meant. So I was like, 'praise Jesus.'” — Valerie Watson (63:02)

  • Each defendant faced a different process but ultimately avoided prison.

• Effect of Law Revision:

  • Minutes before Ryan’s own hearing, he learned the law was repealed, giving courts new discretion (57:56).
  • His rare ammunition type (6.5 Creedmoor) factored into his defense, and courtroom drama ensued as the prosecution tried to demonstrate its supposed danger—an effort undercut by the inability to test-fire the bullets (59:27–62:19).

• Resolution:

  • Ryan received a suspended sentence and $2,000 fine. Emotional reunions at home followed for all involved (63:37–64:48).

6. Lingering Questions and Systemic Change

• Diplomatic Connections:

  • Strange ties between U.S. diplomats and a convicted, but free, former Turks and Caicos premier, Michael Misick, led to further questions about behind-the-scenes influences (66:34–68:21).

• Systemic Reforms:

  • After the ordeal, changes were implemented: Americans caught with ammunition can now settle cases remotely, and jail time is rarely threatened (68:53–69:51).

7. Meaning Amid Chaos

• Reflections and Silver Linings:
  • The Americans saw meaning in their ordeal largely through the bonds they forged and the hope that others would avoid similar fates (71:31–72:49).

  "God had a plan... The brotherhood and the bond that this created was something that, you know, you could not write up in the textbooks." — Brian (72:05)

  • They also acknowledged the kindness of most everyday Turks and Caicos residents, as distinct from government forces (73:51–75:41).
  • Personal anecdotes—like a lost bird dog (75:53) and long-awaited father-son hunting trips (77:21)—offered poignant closure.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Every morning I wake up and I'm thinking somebody plucked me from my life and dropped me into some Netflix true crime docuseries." — Ryan Watson (02:48)
• "Instead of getting six months, they may be like... we're going to give you 10 years." — Michael Grimm via narrator (09:59)
• "Our fate is probably the same at this point, so we're either all in or all out together." — Brian (12:50)
• "The only thing I feel peace about is the media... I truly believe this is what God wants us to do." — Valerie Watson (12:18)
• "You just got through in a briefing before this dinner telling us that there is no... no knowledge of a non-American citizen being apprehended and released for having ammunition. And now all of a sudden, you know this girl's country of origin." — Ryan Watson on the Brazilian girl scandal (40:44)
• "To have a 12-year prison sentence hanging over your head because you accidentally left ammo in a bag was madness." — Codell dinner segment (30:09)
• “When she said suspended sentence... just that initial feeling of all the bricks that are just weighing you down, just lifted.” — Valerie Watson (63:02)
• “99% of the locals on that island... are people with integrity, people with the biggest hearts that welcome Americans with open arms. But the government and the elected officials, that was an eye opening experience.” — Brian (74:22)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:48 – Ryan Watson describes the psychological toll and his dangerous encounter with a car.
• 06:03 – Bomb threats and rising tensions blamed on the Americans.
• 10:21 – Michael Grimm’s warning about going to the press.
• 12:11 – Valerie and Ryan finalize decision to go public.
• 17:20–19:44 – Families receive threats and face extortion attempts.
• 25:37–26:55 – State Dept. controversy and the leaked embassy email.
• 27:48–30:09 – Congressional delegation (CODEL) forms and lands in Turks and Caicos.
• 31:49–34:59 – Sharita Greer’s horrifying detention story.
• 40:44–41:42 – Revelation about the “Brazilian girl” and selective law enforcement.
• 57:56 – Ryan learns the mandatory sentencing law is repealed before his hearing.
• 63:02 – Ryan is sentenced to a suspended sentence and fine.
• 71:31 – Reflections on faith, brotherhood, and meaning gained from the ordeal.

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Thematic Summary

Tone & Language:
The episode is emotional and tense, combining journalistic investigation with first-hand, sometimes raw, personal accounts. Jordan Sillars maintains a sympathetic and inquisitive tone, while the participants shift between relief, defiance, and disbelief at the events unfolding around them.

Conclusion:
Paradise Prison: Chapter 3 is a taut, detailed oral history of an American nightmare abroad—where outdoor adventure collides with geopolitical, legal, and social realities that few could anticipate. The survivors’ willingness to fight back, even as risks multiplied, ultimately changed policy, fostered lasting human connections, and revealed the deep unpredictability at the heart of international justice.

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Further Reading/Listening

• Ryan Watson’s Book: Turks and Chaos
• Tyler Wenrich’s Book: 212 Years
• Sharita Greer’s Book: 59 Days Between Me and God

For tips or feedback, listeners are encouraged to email bloodtrailsmeateater.com.

Transcript

[Jordan Sillers]

You've heard how American hunters ended up arrested in Turks and Caicos for forgotten ammunition in their luggage. You've heard about the prison conditions, the baffling legal system, and the US State Department's lack of involvement. What you haven't heard is what happened when they decided to fight back and how that decision put not just them, but their wives and children in the crosshairs. That's next on Blood Trail.

[Michael Wenrich]

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[Ryan Watson]

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[Jordan Sillers]

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[Jordan Sillers]

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[Ryan Watson]

here to talk about my downt.

[Jordan Sillers]

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[Jordan Sillers]

7 Healthcare just got less painful. The Americans who'd been arrested in Turks and Caicos knew their situation was dire. But Michael Grimm's account of Grand Turk prison put a steely edge on that anxiety. To make matters worse, the sentiment on the islands was not in their favor. The judge had sentenced Michael to prison to send a message. Americans weren't immune from the law, and future offenders could expect even worse treatment. With all that pressure bearing down on them, Ryan Watson found ways to cope however he could.

[Ryan Watson]

Every morning I wake up and I'm thinking somebody plucked me from my life and dropped me into some Netflix true crime docu series like this isn't. This is like the most extravagant joke of all time. I had to check in every day at the jail. So I had to run to the jail and check in. And that run to the jail had kind of been like my form of like therapy or self torture or whatever the case may be. Like I wanted, I needed to feel something like burn or let you know, like just something.

[Jordan Sillers]

On May 10, 2024, about a month after Ryan was arrested, he set off on one of these runs.

[Ryan Watson]

I had my airpods in. Hadn't dawned on me that I had taken the same route every time. At one point I'm running on a sidewalk and I don't even know how I can explain it. It's just if you like sense like a flash or something, like in your periphery that just causes you to jump. I was jumping to the side before I even realized my brain processed that I was jumping to the side. Something grabs my heel, it spins me. I do a 180, I land, you know, on my face and skin, my elbows up and I stand up and I realize I'm like, I just got hit by a car.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan wouldn't have been the first inattentive jogger to be struck by a vehicle. But he quickly realized that this may not have been an innocent mistake. For one thing, he hadn't been crossing a street. He'd been jogging along a sidewalk, which

[Ryan Watson]

luckily was a very tall curb, because if that curb was any shorter, that car would have made it, would have hit me.

[Jordan Sillers]

As Ryan picked himself up off the pavement, he saw that the driver wasn't getting out to make sure he was okay. In fact, that person seemed to be gearing up to do the opposite.

[Ryan Watson]

I'm looking around and there's this four door sedan sitting idling in the middle of the street. And it's just sitting there. And I'm like, oh my God. I jump to my feet, I see them throw it in reverse. I thought, oh shit, I gotta get out of here. And so I jumped to my left. There was a fence that had a bunch of vegetation that had grown through it. I jumped to grab a hold of that and whenever it did the fence beneath the vegetation, it just collapsed underneath me. And I thought, oh crap, this isn't an option. And so I turned around and I stepped off the curb. It's starting its way back to me. And about that time I see it stop and throw it in gear and take off. And I'm like, what just happened? And I turn, look over my shoulder and another car had just pulled out onto the street. And I was like, oh my God, like, did that just happen?

[Jordan Sillers]

Brian believed that Whoever was driving that car tried to hit him intentionally, and when they failed, drove back to finish the job. Under normal circumstances, that might sound like paranoia, but these were not normal circumstances.

[Ryan Watson]

It got the most dangerous in early May when the bomb threat started. And that's when things really came to a crescendo in terms of threats against us. Someone, we don't know who it was, started calling in bomb threats to their airplane airport and got their airport shut down.

[Jordan Sillers]

A total of 17 bomb threats were issued in May of 2024, and almost all of them referenced the Americans who'd been arrested for ammunition possession. One of them said, quote, we don't like doing this, but this is nothing compared to what Tyler Wenrich, Ryan Watson, and Brian Hagrich are going through at the moment. Along with the bomb threats, the email I reviewed threatened to assassinate Turks and Caicos government officials and to send more threats to schools, factories, ports, and hotels. Ryan and the others were blamed for this disruption to the Turks and Caicos economy. One op ed published in a local paper claimed that making these threats was an act of, quote, cowardice, fear, and bullying. It exhorted the Americans to, quote, be bold and brave and face the judicial process.

[Ryan Watson]

So their local media started crafting the story that I was orchestrating all the bomb threats. So in turn, all the locals started putting out hits on me on WhatsApp, and people were sharing our location. People came to find out where we were staying.

[Jordan Sillers]

The situation was getting out of control. Ryan's experience with a mysterious sedan underlined the fact that they weren't just facing 12 years behind bars. They first had to survive long enough to attend their sentencing. Brian stopped wearing his customary cowboy hat, and Brian told me they were forced to move from the Airbnb they were staying in.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And I felt unsafe to even just go, go for a walk or go anywhere and do anything. You have a bullseye on your back.

[Jordan Sillers]

These death threats added another layer of danger to an already perilous situation. But the truth was, they weren't entirely unforeseen. That's because Ryan, Brian, and Tyler had decided to take drastic measures to get themselves off the islands and back to their families. These measures were designed to put pressure on Turks and Caicos officials, force the hand of the US Government, and tell the world about the injustice of their situation. They accomplished all three objectives, but as you'll see in this episode, they got more than they bargained for. Their strategy confirmed that Turks and Caicos was targeting Americans. It spurred a congressional delegation, a dramatic confrontation with the State Department. And the support of millions of people. But it also increased the metaphorical temperature on the already sweltering islands. And they didn't know whether it would secure their freedom or add decades to their time in prison. I'm Jordan Sillers, and this is Blood Trails. Paradise Prison, Chapter 3, Part one A bold strategy. Ryan first spoke to Michael Grimm just a few days after his arrest while Valerie was still on the islands. He knew that he and his wife were facing a long prison sentence, so he was willing to take almost any risk to increase their odds of being released.

[Ryan Watson]

A guy I grew up with in Shawnee, Oklahoma, had married a girl who ended up being the head anchor of NBC Boston. And she sends my wife a message and said, hey, if you think getting your story out there will help you, like, let us know.

[Valerie Watson]

I'll.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I'll.

[Ryan Watson]

I'll do it. And so we see. We look down, we see this message as we're on the phone with Michael. And I said, michael, what if we went to the media?

[Jordan Sillers]

Up to this point, these stories had garnered little media attention. Brian Hagarch's case had been largely ignored, and Michael's had only been covered by local outlets. Michael explained that he opted to keep things quiet, partly because he works for a member of Congress, but also because he'd been warned against it by his attorney, Oliver Smith.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And his advice to me was, do not do that because you will rock the boat and then you will get even harsher punishment, right? Like, all you're going to do is piss them off, and we don't want to do that.

[Jordan Sillers]

Michael conveyed this same advice to Ryan that day on the phone.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I just told him, I was like, be careful. Instead of getting six months, they may be like, well, CNN is pissed, so we're going to give you 10 years. So there are. There could be unintended consequences.

[Jordan Sillers]

In Ryan's recollection of this conversation, Michael was clear about what those consequences might be.

[Ryan Watson]

He said, don't do it. He said, it's a death sentence. So what do you mean it's a death sentence? He said, Ryan, 90% of their GDP is American tourism. He said, this is. You're talking about economic warfare. And he said, they will kill you. He said, mark my words, they will kill you.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan knew that escalating the story in the media carried real risk, but being separated from his family was not an option.

[Ryan Watson]

Cutting off ties with my family, man, I just couldn't accept it. I was like, nope, this is not going to happen. I don't have any options. And if they're talking about me never seeing my kids again. Give me your best shot.

[Jordan Sillers]

The problem was Ryan's actions could impact not just his situation, but Brian's as well. When Ryan asked his fellow American about going to the media, Brian's initial answer was the same as Michael's.

[Ryan Watson]

The next day, I reach out to him, arranged to meet with him, and I was like, hey, buddy. Like, we're both in a world of hurt here. I said, this is. We have a plan to go to the media. And he was like, nope, already been warned.

[Jordan Sillers]

It's a death sentence.

[Ryan Watson]

We can't do that. And I said, man, I just don't see any other way.

[Jordan Sillers]

Brian was still hesitant. But Ryan argued that going to the media, shining a light on the injustice of their situation, might be their only hope of avoiding Grand Turk prison entirely. Valerie, who hadn't yet been released, also pointed out that they had something Michael Grimm didn't.

[Ryan Watson]

As much as I like to pride myself on my career in sales, my wife was the one that ended up talking him into it. And she said, do you think that if. If you guys went to the media, it would have more of an impact if I were there with you? I'm a woman, I'm a mother. We might have a chance to get more sympathy. Like, I feel like I can help you guys out.

[Jordan Sillers]

Valerie says her decision to put herself in the public eye wasn't made lightly, but it was grounded in her faith.

[Valerie Watson]

And I told Ryan, I was like, babe, the only thing that I feel peace about is the media. Like, I feel like God keeps dropping things in our lap. And it has just been so easy, like, taking this media route to do any. Anything else did not feel right. I was like, I truly believe this is what God wants us to do.

[Jordan Sillers]

Valerie's conviction convinced Brian that calling attention to their plight was the right thing to do, even if it came with a serious level of risk.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Our fate is probably the same at this point, so we're either all in or all out together. And we said, hey, we're all in. Like, we've got nothing to lose.

[Ryan Watson]

And it was late at night, and he finally agreed. We all put our hands in the middle, and we're like, all right, we're gonna do this. And we shook and said, let's go to war.

[Jordan Sillers]

Of course there's an inconvenient truth about war. You only control the first shot. After that, the other side gets a say. Once Valerie got off the islands, she lifted the media embargoes they'd arranged with some of the world's biggest news outlets. And the story went absolutely viral. Much of the attention was positive and sympathetic, but some was less than welcoming, including Ryan was horrified to learn threats against his wife and kids back home. Part two the home front. When Valerie walked into the waiting area at the airport in Oklahoma City, she knew there would be news cameras and journalists waiting to ask her questions. But the flashbulbs and noise were weren't enough to take away the joy she felt at seeing her kids.

[Valerie Watson]

I walked out those doors and saw my kids faces and they came running up to me and I was able to just hold their little bodies. Was definitely a moment that I wasn't sure I was going to have again with them at that size and at that age, Every time I see the pictures or the video replays of me hugging those babies, it was a super surreal and super sweet, unforgettable moment. But it was also heartbreaking at the same time because I felt like Ryan should have been there too. And now I'm faced with hard conversations.

[Jordan Sillers]

Valerie and Ryan had told their kids that they'd been delayed by a storm. That was only true in a metaphorical sense. But they weren't sure what else to tell their 7 and 9 year old. When Valerie came home, she explained the situation in full. How Ryan had been caught with four rounds of hunting ammo and he was still on the islands fighting to come home.

[Valerie Watson]

And I didn't want to emphasize the 12 years. I knew they were going to hear it on the news. And so when that time came, you know, and he did hear that, he was like, mom, is he not going to be home for 12 years? And I was like, well, I said there's a lot of things that can happen that can make it less time. I said, so we are just going to pray.

[Jordan Sillers]

Valerie did her best to encourage her son, but she said he was still understandably upset.

[Valerie Watson]

It broke my heart that very first night. He was angry. He was, you know, yelling. He was like, trying to process, like, these people took my dad from me and he's just feeling anger.

[Jordan Sillers]

Brian knew his family was struggling and he was doing everything in his power to get back to them. He and Brian had moved into the same Airbnb where they spent their days doing one thing.

[Ryan Watson]

From that point on, it's as many interviews as we can do. It was our form of economic warfare. We had to tell the world and we had to keep our story in the headlines. Part of the reason that helped our story go viral is didn't pass the sniff Test. Everybody heard 12 years for that. Like, what? Like something's going on here.

[Jordan Sillers]

In one sense, their strategy was working. Their story was resonating with people around the world. But they wouldn't know if they'd made the right decision until they were actually sentenced. In the meantime, they learned that attention can be a double edged sword.

[Ryan Watson]

But it tipped me off that something was up. Whenever I got a request to download a ring app on my phone, I was like, I don't have a ring camera at my house. And my wife sends me a message and says, hey, your friends have come and installed a ring camera. Like, so I started texting them. I'm like, why are you installing a ring camera on my house? And they're like, not for you to worry about. We got this. Like, we're taking turns. Ryan, he's like, we got this. And they were installing gates on our property. And I was like, something's up.

[Jordan Sillers]

Something was up. Valerie isn't sure how people found her phone number and home address, but they did, and they weren't shy about sharing that information.

[Valerie Watson]

People were getting my number and, you know, these were things that I wasn't sharing with Ryan at the time because he's still going through what he's going through. And it's stressful enough, you know, being down on the island, trying to figure out what is going to happen there. But, yeah, I would get these weird text messages and they would have my address, you know, and it was like, I'm so and so, and I know you live at this place.

[Ryan Watson]

And there were people that were making threats against my wife saying that, well, we know he's not ever. He's not going to be there, so she's free game. There was millions of people in the United States that hated us and wished that we were, you know, killed by firing squad instead of, you know, going to prison.

[Jordan Sillers]

Why anyone would feel such animosity towards the Watsons is an open question. Reviewing comments still posted online, many zero in on the fact that Ryan is a hunter and gun owner. When the Turks and Caicos police posted on Facebook the announcement of Ryan's arrest, one person said, quote, so what you're telling me is that this fool was irresponsible with handling ammunition, given that he has two children in his home. Lock him up and throw away the key. Another claim that Ryan brought the ammunition into the country on purpose, while yet another read, simply give him the death penalty. Others attacked the fact that Ryan's sister had set up a GoFundMe to help pay their legal Fees. That fund ended up raising about $250,000, which Ryan said was used exclusively for their own experience expenses, as well as the expenses of the other Americans on the island. But commenters didn't know that or didn't care, and so they painted the Watsons as profiting off of a stupid mistake. Those comments were difficult to read, but they weren't the only troubling communications being sent back to the home front. Michael had warned Ryan about the extortion attempts he had dealt with in prison and said the Watsons, the Hagridges and the Wenrichs should expect the same.

[Ryan Watson]

And he said they, they capitalize on your desperation, and the moment you call your family, they've got their phone number. And those people, they know that those people are willing to pay anything to keep you alive.

[Jordan Sillers]

These attempts came even before any of the Americans were sentenced. Here's Michael Wenrich, Tyler's father, telling me about a call that Tyler's wife, Jerriann received while her husband was still in prison.

[Michael Wenrich]

I'm working one day and I get a text from her. Tyler's coming home. She says, I'm on the phone right now with the local police on the island and that if I pay this fine, they'll let him go home. And so she's working on getting that paid. And I'm sitting back thinking something doesn't sound right.

[Jordan Sillers]

Mr. Wenrich called Tyler's lawyer, who confirmed that this was a scam. But you can understand why Gerianne was so tempted to believe it. And she wasn't alone. All the families received similar calls at one point or another from individuals trying to capitalize on their desperation. Ryan believes they were made by the guards in the prison and the jails who got their phone numbers after the Americans called home. But these extortion schemes could have just as easily been perpetrated by scammers in other countries who heard about the situation, thanks to the increased media attention. Whatever the source of the death threats, hate mail and extortion schemes, they forced all three men to consider more drastic means of getting home to protect their families.

[Ryan Watson]

There were plenty of random people that reached out to us on signal who offered for large, large sums of money to land a float plane.

[Jordan Sillers]

You may have already wondered why the Americans didn't try to run away. They all eventually made bail, and there were plenty of boats and jet skis that could have gotten them to international waters.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And I. I don't want to go into too much detail here. Those plans were discussed. Those plans involved a much higher level than what Ryan and I could even begin to think to coordinate. But yes, there were contingency plans in place. There were GPS coordinates. There were. There was a day where all of our bags were packed, families were ready to board a flight back to the US and we were ready to hop on a helicopter.

[Jordan Sillers]

The problem was Turks and Caicos is a British territory and they signed an extradition treaty with the US So even if the Americans managed to make the perilous journey back home, there was a good chance they'd be turned around and sent back to Turks and Caicos. If that happened, they'd be looking at a lot more than 12 years in prison. They could have tried fleeing to a non extradition country, but Ryan said that would have been almost as tough on their families as prison.

[Ryan Watson]

Now we're living in shadows, looking over our shoulders, you know, for the rest of our lives. And we both had young kids. It started to feel like a selfish act, you know, to be honest with you. And I didn't want to bring that hurt to my family.

[Jordan Sillers]

With that option off the table, the Americans had to trust themselves to the legal system. But while the media attention had many negative side effects, it also spurred action. Not from the State Department, at least not exactly, but from the US Congress. All three Americans had reached out to their representatives soon after being arrested. Some had been more helpful than others. But as the story gained steam, these representatives and senators began to consider using one of the only instruments Congress has to impact foreign policy. They didn't know whether this tool would be effective, but they knew it would send a powerful message. The United States was watching, and Turks and Caicos officials should proceed with caution. That's next after the break.

[Valerie Watson]

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[Jordan Sillers]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

presents Painful Thoughts it's been a long,

[Valerie Watson]

bumpy road dealing with yet another bladder

[Ryan Watson]

infection and driving to the pharmacy to pick up meds.

[Jordan Sillers]

I went over a pothole and a little pee came out.

[Valerie Watson]

So now I get to stand in

[Ryan Watson]

line with pee pee pants.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Next time, skip the pain and get fast free delivery with Amazon Pharmacy Healthcare

[Jordan Sillers]

just got less painful. Part 3 Codell as you heard in the last episode, the United States Department of State had been far less helpful than the Americans would have hoped. Ryan knew this from personal experience, but as part of his media blitz, he decided to bring the receipts.

[Ryan Watson]

What we had was an email that was sent to Michael Graham's mother when Michael Graham was in prison.

[Jordan Sillers]

Michael's mother, whose name is Teresa, had sent an email to the head of the US Embassy in the Bahamas, a woman named Usha Pitts. Teresa wasn't asking for special treatment for her son. She just wanted to know what the visitation rules were, whether Michael was getting medical care, and if Pitts had discussed Michael's case with the governor of the islands. The response she received was again, less than helpful.

[Ryan Watson]

She responds to Michael Grimm's mother, something to the tune of I don't know how you got my number, but your son's of no concern to me.

[Jordan Sillers]

Get lost. This isn't an exaggeration. The email Pitt sent to Teresa read in part, please remove me from your emails. I do not involve myself in ongoing health and welfare cases, and I did not give you my email address, nor will I provide you with details of my interactions with the governor.

[Ryan Watson]

And so I called Michael and I said, hey man, we need a favor. I said, I don't want to breach your trust. I said, but can I leak that email? And he thought about it. He said, yeah, okay, you can do it. So we leaked that email to NBC.

[Jordan Sillers]

The gambit succeeded in getting the attention of the State Department. Here's a clip from that NBC report. We asked Pitts and the State Department. About that email, a State Department spokesperson tells us, we apologize to the Grimm family for the tone and substance of the emails. They were not in accordance with the high priority we place on Care for Americans Abroad. Along with the apology, the State Department reassigned Pitts to Haiti in the wake of these revelations, they also sent someone to do a welfare check on Ryan and Brian, though that was the meeting at the deli you heard about in the last episode, the one where the embassy official laughed at them and told them they should get on a boat and leave. Still, Washington, D.C. was beginning to take notice then. Oklahoma Senator Mark Wayne Mullen had been in touch with Ryan and Valerie the entire time. And he told Ryan that their media campaign was working.

[Ryan Watson]

He's like, I thought you were crazy for going to the media. He said, but what you're doing is like, you're having influence. Ryan, he's like, I know it doesn't feel like it there. He's like, but you are having influence on that island.

[Jordan Sillers]

The attention Ryan and the other Americans were generating made it easier for Senator Mullen to organize something called a Congressional delegation, or codel.

[Ryan Watson]

And he said, basically, I'm going to assemble a group of senators and congressmen were going to fly to the island and we're going to force basically a sit in with their government.

[Jordan Sillers]

The Senator was able to organize this trip in record time. And on May 17, he called Ryan to say they'd be landing in Turks and Caicos in two days.

[Ryan Watson]

I was like, holy crap, this is the biggest blessing of all times.

[Jordan Sillers]

But then they hit a roadblock.

[Ryan Watson]

Later on that evening, I get a call and he's like, buddy, I got bad news. I don't know if we can make it. And I was like, what are you talking about? He said, chuck Schumer just shut it down. He said, because if we fly in on the 19th, the 20th is a Monday. They have to call recess on the Senate floor for us to make this trip happen. And Chuck Schumer is refusing to call recess so that we can go. He's blocking it because it's not a, quote, unquote, bipartisan trip.

[Jordan Sillers]

New York Senator Chuck Schumer was at the time Senate Majority Leader, so he had the power to block the trip entirely. But Mullen had one more card to play. He told Ryan he planned to ask Senator John Fetterman, a Democrat from Pennsylvania. Senator Fetterman was one of Bryan's representatives, and he and Mullen were on good terms.

[Ryan Watson]

He said, I'll let you know by 10 o' clock. Tonight, he said, that's when our NSA has to have our security clearances done by, okay, 10 o' clock rolls by, we don't hear anything and you know, we're defeated. 10, 10. He calls and he says Fetterman's in.

[Jordan Sillers]

Along with Mullen and Fetterman, the delegation consisted of Representatives Guy Reschenthaler of Pennsylvania, Michael Cloud of Texas, Bob Good of Virginia, and Josh Burkin of Oklahoma. They flew in on May 17 and planned to meet with the detained Americans, State Department employees and Turks and Caicos government officials. While they didn't have the power to impose sanctions or issue travel advisories, Representative Brackeen told me they were there to deliver one simple message.

[Michael Wenrich]

Why?

[Jordan Sillers]

They needed to make sure that United States citizens felt comfortable continuing to travel to Turks and Caicos. 65% of their GDP was tourism related, of which that 80% of that came from the United States. And to have a 12 year prison sentence hanging over your head because you accidentally left ammo in a bag was madness. The first meeting was a dinner attended by Codell, the Americans, State Department officials and representatives from the United Kingdom. Brian had a chance to chat with Senator Fetterman, who he said was encouraging and empathetic.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Senator Federman was to my left, and at one point he said, hey, hey, Brian, did you kill a deer last year? And I said, yes, Senator, I did. He goes, was it a buck? And I said, yes, sir, it was. And this is the middle of the dinner while everybody else is speaking. And I said, well, you know, it was kind of a funky rack, but he had 13 points. He goes, oh, he stood up. Oh, wow, that, that's a giant. Congratulations. At this point, everybody got quite the chuckle out of. Was kind of great to relate about, you know, something that, you know, us Pennsylvanians can share together, and that's outdoorsmanship and hunting.

[Jordan Sillers]

After they ate, Senator Mullen began the discussion by asking each detained American to tell their story. You already heard what had happened to Ryan, Brian and Tyler. But there was another American there who I mentioned in chapter one. A woman named Sharita Greer. When she told her story, the gathered politicians could hardly believe what they were hearing.

[Sharita Greer]

I was so excited because I'm like, oh my God, I've never been out of the country.

[Jordan Sillers]

Sharita is from Florida and her daughters had planned a trip to Turks and Caicos for Mother's Day. They had a good time, but as they tried to leave the islands, airport officials found two rounds of 9 millimeter in her bag.

[Sharita Greer]

So they got me in the room, you know, they Just talking. This. Is this serious? You facing 12 years mandatory prison. I'm just baffled at this time. I'm crying. My daughter crying. And she was just like, no, you're gonna have to come go with us. We need to talk to you. And I'm like, talk to me. I don't know what to do. We just hysterical at this moment. It was awful.

[Jordan Sillers]

Sharita told her daughters to get on the plane and fly home while officials hustled her off to jail.

[Sharita Greer]

And I'm thinking to myself, I ain't never been in jail a day in my life. I'm just baffled, like, in jail. Next thing you know, they take my luggage. They had me in a conference room. They gave me a filthy blanket and put it on the floor, and they changed my leg to a chair and made me sleep on the floor.

[Jordan Sillers]

Floor.

[Sharita Greer]

In a room, in a conference room.

[Jordan Sillers]

The jail only had one holding cell, and there was a man in it at the time of Sharita's arrest. So officials decided to keep her in that conference room with her ankle shackled to a chair. Sharita told me it was one of the scariest, loneliest moments of her life.

[Sharita Greer]

The most thing I did was pray. I prayed and cried, cried and prayed, you know? And finally, like that second day, I was praying, I was crying out to God. I said, God, I know you're real. I said, I just need you to give me a sign that I'm gonna be okay. That's when she. She came. I heard Elena say, I'm here to check on Sharita Greer. And I'm saying to myself, who is that? I don't know nobody over here. Don't nobody know me.

[Jordan Sillers]

Shrida was the last to be arrested, and Ryan and Brian heard about it through the contacts they developed on the island. They drove to the jail the next day, and Ryan's mom went inside to visit.

[Sharita Greer]

They brought her down the hall, and when she came in the room, I'm crying. She cried, and she was like, you gonna be okay? And stuff. You know, she was just trying to encourage me and stuff. But it was just like, when I prayed that prayer, it was like instantly she called me by name when she came to the jail, because I didn't even know how she knew I was there. You know what I'm saying? You know, all this type of stuff. So I'm just like. Before I can wipe the tears from my eyes, she called me by name.

[Ryan Watson]

My mom comes back probably 45 minutes later just absolutely in tears. I was like, what's going on? And she Said, well, she's in there, but Ryan is not good. I said, what do you mean? She said, they have her handcuffed to a chair. It's like, are you kidding me? She said, no, but she told me that she has a history of blood clots. She doesn't have access to her anticoagulants. So we fire off an email requesting the embassy to intervene. There is American life at risk. She's obviously in very inhumane conditions without a medication, and nothing. No response.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan and the others brought Sharita food and blankets while she was detained, but officials refused to remove the handcuff from her ankle until she made bail. Four days later. Sharita told me her ankle started to swell up, and she barely slept or ate the entire time.

[Sharita Greer]

It was awful. I just. I even hate that matter. I just never experienced anything like that before in my life. You know what I'm saying? To be shackled to a chair and in another country, no family, no nothing, you know, all alone. It was devastating.

[Jordan Sillers]

Sharita went to live with Ryan and Brian while they navigated the legal system and they developed a bond that remains to this day. But when the way Sharita had been treated came out at the CO Dell dinner, Tyler said the gathered delegation was not happy.

[Michael Wenrich]

They reamed out the State Department in front of us during that dinner. It just fired up Mullins after we went into some of those conversations, and it got pretty heated.

[Jordan Sillers]

Senator Mullen asked the State Department officials if they hadn't bothered to check on the health of Americans immediately after they'd been detained, had they at least tried to make sure the prison conditions had improved. One of the officials there said she toured the prison while Tyler was incarcerated and determined that many of the problems had been fixed.

[Ryan Watson]

And so she starts to tell this story about touring the prison and Tyler Winrich, who was on Grand Turk, which is where the prison is located, interjects and he said, wait, wait, wait. No, no, no, no. He said, you were able to meet me earlier than where we were, than when we were supposed to meet, because they didn't allow you past the lobby and they didn't allow you to tour the prison. You told me that firsthand when we sat down to meet. This is Tyler speaking. And at which point she realizes she's been caught again.

[Jordan Sillers]

Believe it or not, these weren't the only explosive revelations that hot summer night in Turks and Caicos. Ryan had one more story to tell, one that raised serious questions about whether local officials were applying the law equally and why the State Department hadn't Caught it sooner. That's next after the break. Part four. The Brazilian. In order to understand what happened next, we have to rewind the tape all the way back to Ryan and Valerie's second interrogation. Ryan was sitting across the table from Sergeant Charles, trying to convince him that those were his bullets and that was his bag.

[Ryan Watson]

He gets a phone call, and he says, hey, what's going on? I hear an airport security officer on the other. Other end of the line say, hey, we just caught you another one. And his eyes perk up. And I lift my head up. I thought, did I just hear what I thought I heard? About the time the airport security officer comes back on. He says, yeah. Young Caucasian. Caucasian female, mid-20s. Two live rounds of ammunition in her carry on, come snag her. He bolts out the room. And I can hear him ordering two other police officers to go to the airport. He comes back in, acting as if I didn't just hear exactly what had transpired. And I was like, hey, did I just hear that right? And he's like, don't pay any attention to that. It's none of your business. And at that point, I was like, this is a game. Like something is going on.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan was interrogated for about 45 minutes and then let out into the lobby as Valerie was hustled into the room. He just left. As he sat there waiting for his wife to finish answering questions, he turned around to see a woman in her 20s being dragged into the station.

[Ryan Watson]

And she's bawling her eyes out. She's hysterical. She looks scared to death. I don't get, like, a great look at her face because her head is buried down in her hands. But I have a pretty good description of her. I assume that she's an American. I mean, she looked Caucasian. They put her in a different room. They slam the door. And I can hear loudspeak, but I can't hear. I can't make out what they're saying.

[Jordan Sillers]

As Ryan and Valerie left the station that day, Ryan couldn't shake the. The feeling that something wasn't quite right.

[Ryan Watson]

On the way back to the hotel room, I had turned to my wife and parents, and I said, hey, something's going. Something else is going on. Like, we're going to talk about this when we get to the hotel room. Don't say a word in front of anybody.

[Jordan Sillers]

When they got back to the hotel, Ryan did everything he could to identify the woman he'd seen. He downloaded flight tracking data to find her flight, and he asked about her in conversations with reporters and Others who might know something.

[Ryan Watson]

There was a guy who had been extorted in years past who had come into contact with us, and he was actually still paying one of the officers on the island. And he put us in contact with this officer and said, I think he might be able to get help you guys out and get you some information. And so when we reached out to. He's like, guys, I have no. The only record that I have of any female being being arrested is Valerie. We don't know who you're talking about. We knew she existed. We knew somebody had gotten apprehended. I saw the evidence bag with the two rounds of ammunition in it, and so we felt like we were going crazy.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan wasn't able to identify this mystery woman until a few weeks later when he told the story you just heard to the representatives and diplomats at the Co Dell dinner.

[Ryan Watson]

which point the charge defer looks up and looks over to the other embassy official sitting across the table and says, is he talking about the Brazilian girl? And Mullen's head about spins off his shoulders, and he's like, what are you talking about, Brazilian girl? And he's like, well, is he talking about the Brazilian girl that was arrested for having ammunition at the airport? And Mullen like, slams his hand on the desk and he's like, you just got through in a briefing before this dinner telling us that there is no. No knowledge of a non American citizen being apprehended and released for having ammunition. And now all of a sudden, you know this girl's country of origin. And it became pretty clear that they were lying at that point.

[Jordan Sillers]

In other words, while every American who got caught with ammunition was arrested, jailed, and threatened with serious prison time, citizens of other countries who were caught breaking the same law were released.

[Ryan Watson]

It proved our claim that they were targeting American citizens. Later on in the conversation, it's revealed that there was. She wasn't the only one. That they knew that there was another non American citizen who had been apprehended and then released from that airport for the same exact thing.

[Jordan Sillers]

Turks and Caicos officials denied the accusation. Premier Charles Misick took to the local papers to say, quote, we do not target U.S. citizens or any other nationality. Any contrary statements are without merit. Premier Misic issued his statement in response to Pennsylvania Congressman Guy Reschenthaler, who had reiterated Ryan's claims to multiple media outlets. Three days later, Congressman Rushenthaler confronted then Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a fiery house committee hearing.

[Ryan Watson]

Mr. Secretary, it's. It's my estimation that Your department is just weak. It's feckless, and at best, your department is incompetent. And you can't tell me that you can't put a do not travel today on Turks and Caicos and bring the four Americans that still remain in Turks and Gate goes home. It would take one order to bring four Americans home. Four Americans, by the way. One is a grandmother from Florida with two. She was caught with two rounds of ammunition in her purse. She was chained to a desk for three days. Your State Department, your officials did not come and visit her. It was up to the other American detainees to bring her food, water, a pillow, a blanket for that night.

[Jordan Sillers]

Secretary Blinken said he disagreed with Reschenthaler's assessment.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We have a State Department and extraordinary

[Ryan Watson]

men and women who every single day

[Michael Wenrich]

are working to get arbitrarily detained Americans

[Ryan Watson]

back home with their families and loved ones. And it's our number one priority. So I will apologize to no one.

[Jordan Sillers]

As you heard, Sharita's story became a powerful weapon in the media battle for the detained Americans. But it was more than that. During the Codell dinner, Oklahoma Rep. Josh Burkin told me he used Sharita's story to do some real diplomacy. I looked down at the end of the table after these stories are being laid out, and I said to this representative from the United Kingdom, I said, what do you think is going to happen when we as members of Congress, when we go back and we get into a media situation and we're talking about that that woman was handcuffed around a chair all night long? What do you think the story is going to get out? And the response from that government official from the UK Said, it's not going to be good. These members of Congress had no official power on Turks and Caicos, but the British government did. Rhett Burkin knew that, and he used the opportunity to nudge them in the right direction. The next step in the CODEL's mission was to meet directly with Turks and Caicos government officials.

[Ryan Watson]

The first people that the CODEL met with were the Minister of Tourism for the island. We knew we had already heard word that the Minister of tourism and the resort association had like three or four separate emergency meetings because there were so many cancellations for their resorts and hotels and vacation rentals on the island. Says that we reckon their economy demands that I use my quote unquote, public presence to go and apologize and encourage other Americans to travel to the island. To which Mullen laughs in her face. He's like, not a chance. Like, you've lost your mind.

[Jordan Sillers]

After that less than encouraging interaction, the delegation met with Premier Charles Missick. The congressman pointed out that tourism wasn't the only way American taxpayers contributed to the local economy. Economy. The US Coast Guard patrols the waters around the islands, and they intercept guns and ammunition being imported by Haitian gangs. According to Ryan, Senator Mullen threatened to pull that Coast Guard protection if the Turks and Caicos government refused to play ball.

[Ryan Watson]

At which point Misic erupts and tells him that he's not going to respond to his threats, saying, you don't intimidate me. You can fly in as big a plane as you would ever dream of, he said, but it's not going to intimidate me. Molly gets up and walks out of the meeting, ends the meeting right there, calls me and says, buddy, we gotta figure out a plan B. Ryan and

[Jordan Sillers]

the others had hoped to fly home with the codel. Now they knew that wasn't going to happen because while the congressmen could make threats, they couldn't force the island nation's hand without cooperation from the State Department. On the other hand, Turks and Caicos officials had incentives to play hardball. They didn't want their constituents to think that they caved. Foreign pressure and local media praised Misic and others for standing up to the Americans. Still, they weren't without hope, as Senator Mullen explained.

[Ryan Watson]

Mullen calls me and he says, hey, man, I've been on the phone all for like the past 24 hours with the UK up until this point, he couldn't get the UK to do anything to get involved, much less answer a phone, right? He says, yes, they say that they're going to get involved. They understand what's going on now and they want to be involved. So we have to trust them. Right now, this is our only play.

[Jordan Sillers]

As it turned out, Rhett Brackeen's instinct was correct. The UK officials at that dinner had heard about Sharita's experience. They listened to Ryan, Brian and Tyler relate their frustrations with the police, the jail conditions, and the arbitrary ways their cases had been handled. They'd also heard how. How local officials had targeted American citizens whose government constituted one of their closest allies. The CODEL hadn't been successful in the way that Ryan and the others had imagined, but they hoped those UK officials would be working behind the scenes. Now it was time to face the sentencing hearings they'd all been dreading. Those dramatic courtroom scenes are next after the break.

[Valerie Watson]

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[Ryan Watson]

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[Jordan Sillers]

painful thoughts why did I search the

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[Jordan Sillers]

See terms part 5.

[Narrator/Reporter]

The verdicts May 3rd was was my hearing date. My defense made their case, their prosecution. I surely wasn't much of a legal case. It was more or less these Americans, these Americans, they deserve 12 years. These Americans, I mean, that was just repeated over and over again.

[Jordan Sillers]

Brian wasn't sentenced at this hearing, but his account illustrates why he and the others were so concerned. The prosecution had a strong case. The law clearly prohibited ammunition possession, but he was worried that this anti American sentiment might unfairly impact their punishment.

[Narrator/Reporter]

And everybody knew at that point, like, you know, whatever my fate was was more than likely very similar for the rest of them. So there was a ton of emphasis placed on my case. You know, whatever we had to do was very dependent upon my outcome. And everybody was just kind of waiting for that.

[Jordan Sillers]

That May 24th date, as his sentencing date approached, Brian said he vacillated between optimism and despair.

[Narrator/Reporter]

You know, leading up to that, you know, we had every emotion under the sun. You know, part of us was, hey, I'm going home. Part of us was, I'm going to be in Prison. You know, I had given my wife the list before her last trip down there. We had the black bag and we had the green bag. One was the prison bag, one was the go home bag. And I had two bags packed on the 24th. They were both in the trunk of that car. You know, we were prepared for every

[Jordan Sillers]

single thing at the hearing. Brian sat in a plexiglas cage while his family sat in the audience.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I sat in literally the penalty box. You know, it wasn't a three minute icing penalty. It was an hour and 30 minutes of just their jargon, a lot of it hard to entire interpret. So she started, you know, when she said, okay, you know, we're going to start at, I forget even what the number was. But then she gave me credit for, for some of the time served and my good character and the references. So then it went down to two years. And all of us knew once we got to that two year point, they could suspend our sentence suspended, essentially meaning that you would not go to their prison. You could serve it, you know, outside of the prison. And if you're not, you know, don't get any other troubles, it's waived. I mean, I was a bundle of nerves. But when I heard that two year mark, I had a glimmer of hope. And then when she credited some of the other pieces, it was down to I think nine months. And then when the word suspended was said, I, I didn't even care what the fine was at that point. I knew I was going home. There was actually a really special moment before the sentencing took place where we all prayed together. Even some of the clerks in the courtroom, they prayed with us. Some of their media described it, you know, in a very perfect manner that, you know, all these guys, they pulled together and it was truly magical. I had tourists on vacation there from the US that attended the sentencing just because they felt so strongly about this. I'm just forever grateful, you know, for all the people that, that stood behind me that, that pushed to make what happened happen.

[Jordan Sillers]

When Brian parked the rental car in the airport, he left the black prison bag in the trunk. He doesn't know what happened to it. And I got the sense he doesn't really care. Now at this point, you might be wondering, didn't the appeals court rule that the judge must sentence someone caught with ammunition to at least some prison time? That's true. And the judge in Bryan's case acknowledged that, quote, the sentence of the court is not at large and the court has no jurisdiction to impose a non custodial sentence, meaning a sentence without actual prison time. How then did Brian escape with a suspended sentence and a $6,700 fine? The answer is no one really knows. I read the judge's decision, and she acknowledges, but then seems to ignore the appeals court ruling. She cites a 2013 case from the UK in which a Bulgarian man received less than the mandatory minimum after being caught with a stun gun. Like Brian, that man had an exemplary character and family commitments, but he was caught with a gun, not ammunition. What's more, the case happened in the uk and I would expect a Turks and Caicos court decision to supersede that precedent. What's the point of this riveting legal analysis? Well, I think it indicates that the Americans media campaign had actually worked. This judge was willing to bend the rules to keep Bryan out of prison, which was a huge encouragement for the other Americans. Unfortunately for Tyler, he didn't have the same judge as Brian, in part because he'd been arrested on Grand Turk island, not Provo. He also had a different lawyer, and the circumstances of his case did not match the other two men. Unlike Brian, who may have been the first person ever to bring six.5PRC cartridges to Turks and Caicos, Tyler had been caught with a far more common cartridge widely used by criminals. We don't know how those facts influenced his case, but it's safe to say they didn't help. At the hearing in which Tyler pleaded guilty, the prosecutor did everything he could to convince the judge that those 9 millimeter bullets posed a threat to the citizens of Turks and Caicos.

[Michael Wenrich]

And he's just, like, saying the most absurd things because I don't know if it's just ignorance or what, but, I mean, one of the comments that he made that stuck out to me to the judge was how dangerous these two bullets could have been, because all you have to do is hit the back of them and they'll go off. That was his argument to the judge.

[Ryan Watson]

And I just.

[Michael Wenrich]

I mean, I was already, like, super emotional at that time, but, like, I was sitting back and I'm just like, this is ridiculous. Like, these people just don't understand what they're saying.

[Jordan Sillers]

That hearing was less than encouraging, but the sentencing was the real test. Like, Brian Tyler sat in the defendant's box listening to the judge run through

[Michael Wenrich]

his reasoning, explain the law, explaining previous cases. You know, it's going downhill is what you're thinking in your head, and. And then he's kind of switches tunes and gets positive about, you know, my character. And, you know, this is a mistake and you kind of get some hope up, built up, and then he goes back down to some other things. So it's just like a roller coaster sitting there with emotions and you're, you're waiting for the punchline because it's, you can't get a, you can't get a idea where he's going with it. He finally gets to the sentencing part and we hear, you know, your sentence with time served and a nine thousand dollar fine. And I, I just remember a whole weight being lifted off me and I just, I just started tearing up in joy just being that whole process was over. You know, I get to go home and some point. Thankfully,

[Jordan Sillers]

Tyler, like every other American I spoke to, was delayed in leaving because authorities couldn't find his passport when they eventually located it. He then had to go to the customs office to get it stamped for an extended stay because as his lawyer explained, if he tried to go through the airport with a one day stamp, they'd arrest him for being there illegally. So Tyler enjoyed one more day on the islands with his wife and family before they eventually flew home. Ryan's sentencing was next, and he wasn't as confident as you might expect.

[Ryan Watson]

And the sentiment on the island at that point was, Ryan, you, you were the whistleblower. They're gonna drop the hammer on somebody, it's gonna be you. All these rumors that me being the fall guy or, or, you know, taking them the bullet because I was the whistleblower started to seem like they were coming to fruition. The media had kind of put a bow on the story. Everybody was like, oh, well, Ryan will probably get the same thing, like. And I was like, oh, crap, like the world's moved on.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan's sentencing hearing kept getting delayed. And during those weeks, he fell into a serious depression. Brian and Tyler had left the island. The media had moved on to hotter stories. And even though Valerie and Ryan's parents were there, he felt alone and unsure about his future. He needed some encouragement. And on June 19, 2024, five minutes before his first hearing, he got it.

[Ryan Watson]

I was walking in to the Supreme Court. I saw my attorney running up the stairs, which I thought was strange because he's not, that's not his style. Hands me his phone and I look down and it takes me a while to realize what I'm looking at and realize that they had just repealed the law that made it a 12 year minimum mandatory prison sentence, which, and now we're going to give the judge discretion.

[Jordan Sillers]

Obviously, the judges had some amount of discretion prior to this. But their leniency in Brian's and Tyler's cases made it more likely that they dropped the hammer on Ryan. They couldn't ignore the appeals court rulings forever. Ryan worried that they'd be forced to send him to prison to, if nothing else, save face with their constituents. Now, the judge had an out if she wanted to take it. But the prosecutor wasn't going down without a fight.

[Ryan Watson]

Even though they they repeal the law, the dpp, which is like essentially the attorney general for the island, he was still hell bent on sending me to prison, and he was trying to make the case that I had committed this crime before this change in the law had taken place. And so then I should be sentenced to the 12 year minimum mandatory.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan's attorney, Oliver Smith, used the same strategy he'd used in Brian's case. He argued that Ryan fell into the exceptional circumstances category. He'd never been convicted of a crime, and he had a wife and children back home.

[Ryan Watson]

I had a firearms expert write on the uniqueness of the 6.5 Creedmoor round and how at that point in time, there was, like, no homicides ever committed with 6.5 Creedmoor. It was not readily commercially available.

[Jordan Sillers]

We'll never know exactly what convinced the judge to rule one way or the other, but this point about Ryan's 6.5 Creedmoor hunting cartridges was one of the pivotal moments in the case.

[Ryan Watson]

And I look over and see Joseph Clement turn and make this real, you know, emphatic nod to one of the armed guards in the corner of the courtroom. And he comes marching across the floor of the courtroom with this bag, the bag of ammunition from my bag. And I catch a glimpse of it, and I realize there's three intact rounds of 6.5 Creedmoor. But I noticed a casing, and I noticed powder, and I noticed projectile all disassembled lying in the back. And I was like, wait a minute. I read in a court case that the ammunition had to be test fired to ensure that it was actual live ammunition. And so I'm sitting there thinking, I'm like, all the components are there, but that thing's disassembled. That thing was never fired. The projectile was completely intact. And he gets to the front, says, we want to submit this to the king for evidence. And, you know, asked if my attorney would accept the submission. And I'm trying to get Oliver's attention. And he turns around, walks to me, and he's kind of annoyed, and he's like, what? I said, allow it. He said, what are you talking about? He said, you gotta be crazy. I said, allow it. And he's like, the whole reason that he's doing this is to show the judge how dangerous those bullets look. He's like, and you want me to allow this? And I said, well, I read somewhere that they have to test fire ammunition on this island. Is that correct? And he said, yes. And I said, they didn't have a gun on this island that could test fire that ammunition. They had to pull the ammunition apart. And it. I saw it click. I saw the light bulb go off in his eyes, and he turned around, he spun on his heel and went back, and he said, we'll allow it, but we want the king to pay special attention to the fact that there was not a firearm on this island capable of firing, of test firing that ammunition. And that bullet had to be pulled apart in order to make sure that all the necessary components were there. And at which point, out of the corner of my eye, I see Joseph Clement slump over in his chair, like, in defeat. And I was like, checkmate.

[Jordan Sillers]

The judge ended the proceedings and said Ryan would receive his sentence in two days time. When that day finally arrived, Ryan got back into the defendant's box while Valerie watched from the gallery.

[Valerie Watson]

I'm sitting here just praying and hoping that this judge can see that he is not a bad person. It's terrifying at the same time because at this moment, like, she can say what she's going to say, and we just live and deal with whatever her decision is. It's all up to her.

[Jordan Sillers]

The judge began in the same way she had with Brian. She started with a sentence of many years and eventually, eventually worked it down to a suspended sentence, along with a fine of only $2,000. 500 for each bullet.

[Valerie Watson]

I remember when she said suspended sentence, and I knew what that meant. So I was like, praise Jesus. Like, I, this is good news, you know? And so everybody started celebrating. Just that initial feeling of all the bricks that are just weighing you down, just lifted. It was an indescribable feeling for sure.

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan got his passport back after a bit of a delay, paid his fine, and made a mad dash back to the airport to catch his flight.

[Ryan Watson]

I almost passed out going back to that security line. I thought I was having a heart attack. I'm not gonna lie. I mean, I was scared to death. But thanks goodness, we get on a

[Valerie Watson]

plane, we get home, we made it back to Oklahoma. And that arrival was something. I think Ryan even says it too. You know, you can still hear the cheering. And when we walk through those glass doors. Even when we travel now, like, we can't help but hear the scream of one of our best friends and then the cheers from everybody else. Our kids were there. They had all made pet posters and signs. Watching, you know, our kids run up and getting to see him hold them and hug them for the first time. That was a really sweet moment. Some of my favorite pictures and videos still, and it still makes me kind of weepy whenever I see him embrace our son because he just had lost it. Finally getting to, you know, see his dad and hug his dad and having gone through all that time not knowing when that was going to be. So pretty. Pretty sweet moment for sure.

[Jordan Sillers]

Part six Questions and Answers. Sharita was still on the islands, though she had reason to hope her sentence would follow Brian, Tyler and Ryan's. But that doesn't mean she was out of danger. Ryan had been home for a few weeks when he looked at his phone and saw Sharita was calling.

[Ryan Watson]

So I answer my phone on speaker, say, hey, Ms. Sharita. I'm all my kids. Hey, Ms. Sharita. And I immediately, once they, they stop, I hear her crying on the other end of the line.

[Jordan Sillers]

Sharita explained that her court hearing had been delayed, which meant she'd be stuck on the island even longer.

[Ryan Watson]

She says, ryan, I. They just delayed my court hearing. I am out of my anticoagulation medication. I called to my doctor back in Florida, and he can't prescribe me the medication until we do blood work. I can't get my blood work done here on this island. And now they've delayed my court and I don't know how I'm going to do it. I'm scared.

[Jordan Sillers]

Bryant advised her to call the US Embassy and ask for help. Sharita said she would. So he hung up and started drafting an email to Senator Mullen, along with the governor and senators from Florida. But 30 minutes later, Sharita called back to say she'd gotten in touch with a woman who worked for the embassy, but not in a place she expected.

[Ryan Watson]

Completely different tone, cheery, happy. She says, ryan, I was. I called her, I said, okay, it must have gone good. She said, yeah, she was actually at a party with Mrs. I said, she was at a party with Premier Charles Missick. She said, no, wasn't Charles Missick. It was Michael Missick.

[Jordan Sillers]

Charles Missick was the premier of Turks and Caicos in 2024. Michael Missick was his brother. Michael had been the premier from 2003 to 2008, when the British Parliament accused him of illegally selling off public land. To fund his investments. Misic was arrested by. By Interpol in 2012 in Brazil, and, ironically enough, sent briefly to the Grand Turk Prison. But he made bail, and his trial was delayed and delayed and delayed. In 2024, when Sharita called Ryan, he was still a free man. This is why Ryan could hardly believe his ears when Sharita told him that not only did the Consul General speak to Michael Missick on the phone, he seemed to be the one who. Who pulled the strings to get her the medication she needed.

[Ryan Watson]

And I was like, trita, you must have under or you must have misunderstood her. Michael Missick's the younger brother. Charles Misick's the premier. Charles Misick's the one that she would have needed to talk to. And she said, ryan, you don't think I got ears? She said his name five times. She said, hey, Mike, when she called him over. Hey, Michael, she's doing this. Michael, she's doing this. She needs this. Okay, thanks, Mike. Thanks so much, Mike. She said, ryan. She said it multiple times while I was on the phone with her.

[Sharita Greer]

And I'm saying to myself, what's she getting in touch with him for? You know, like, what he supposed to do? That's what I was confused about.

[Jordan Sillers]

This raised a question Ryan still can't fully answer. Why was a US Diplomat so friendly with a man facing active corruption charges? And did that relationship have anything to do with how the State Department handled the Americans cases?

[Ryan Watson]

Just whenever I thought I'd, like, kind of put this by piece of, like, puzzle piece, like, back together like this. Like, information just, like, spreads it back all across the floor. And I'm like, holy crap, what do we do?

[Jordan Sillers]

Ryan doesn't know if we'll get answers to any of these questions. But one thing is clear. Turks and Caicos has changed its policies in the wake of the 2024 scandal. Sharita was released and allowed to return home after paying a fine. And a few months later, Ryan got a call from Senator Mullen. An American pilot had been arrested after Turks and Caicos officials discovered a loaded magazine in the lockbox of his cockpit. Ryan reached out to this pilot to give him the lay of the land and recommend a meeting with his former attorney, Oliver Smith.

[Ryan Watson]

Once you sign your contract for representation, stand up and tell Oliver that Ryan and Senator Mullen are ready for round two and are about to unleash hell on the media. So he does that. On Friday, his account was Oliver made a pretty big sigh, said a few cuss words, pulls his phone out of his pocket, calls someone that Nobody knows who and says, we need to have an emergency meeting. Hangs up the phone. Then on Tuesday, I get a call from Pilot and says, ryan, I'm getting called into the courthouse right now. I don't know, I'm freaking out. I don't know what's going on. So we make a bunch of phone calls. We can't figure out what's going on. About an hour later, I get a selfie from Pilot's wife boarding a plane saying, hey, they just dropped all charges and they're letting us go. So no media is necessary.

[Jordan Sillers]

The pilot had to pay Oliver A cool 50 grand, but it was a lot better than the hundreds of thousands of dollars Ryan and the others had to pay in legal fees and living accommodations. And a whole lot better than Michael's six months in prison. I first spoke to Ryan in March of this year and he said that Pilot was the last American he'd heard of being threatened with prosecution for ammunition possession. Sharita told me she's been contacted by several other Americans who've been caught with ammunition on the islands, but they've been processed and sent home far more quickly. Based on what Sharita's heard, it sounds like they're being allowed to settle their court cases from home via Zoom. So while Turks and Caicos officials are still enforcing the firearms ordinance against tourists, they've softened their stance. A fine is still on the table, but threats of jail time no longer appear to be a part of the official playbook. Again, we reached out to the Turks and Caicos government for comment on this story, but have not received a response by the time of this recording. Part 7 Meaning in the chaos

[Michael Wenrich]

throughout

[Jordan Sillers]

my time reporting this story, I was consistently struck by the seeming pointlessness of these hardships. The Americans I spoke with didn't mean to break the law, so it wasn't as if they could learn and reform from their tribulations. They all say they checked their bags more carefully before traveling, but that's hardly a life changing lesson. They also weren't suffering for some kind of noble cause like serving their country or, or helping the less fortunate. I was curious to hear their takeaways from this experience. How did they understand the purpose of their ordeal?

[Ryan Watson]

I knew pretty early on that I was there for a reason, and I had to come to grips with the fact that I might not ever see that reason, that purpose.

[Jordan Sillers]

Not all of those reasons were obvious, but some were. One of the clearest takeaways was how the islands decided to handle these cases moving forward. Ryan said it's Gratifying to know that thanks in part to their advocacy, Americans who make similar mistakes won't be facing prison time. Brian told me that he also sees the relationships he formed with Ryan and the others as profoundly meaningful.

[Narrator/Reporter]

God had a plan. And when I say that, I truly mean that, not only to get us off that island, but to connect us all together. The brotherhood and the bond that this created was something that, you know, you could not write up in the textbooks.

[Jordan Sillers]

Sharita agrees. She calls Ryan's mom her angel mom for showing up exactly when she needed her while she was shackled to that chair.

[Sharita Greer]

I call Ryan my brother. You know, he called me his sister. Me and Ryan, we don't have the same blood, but that's how I look at Ryan, as my blood. Because the way he treated me, the loyalty and respect that he had for me. So nothing can change that.

[Jordan Sillers]

Those relationships don't just include the other Americans. Everyone I spoke with had their own stories of Turks and Caicos islanders who went out of their way to help them in a time of need. Ryan always mentions Reuben, the driver who put up his taxi to keep the Watsons out of jail. And if you're wondering, he would have received his car title back after Ryan's sentencing. Ryan says he still keeps in touch with one of the guards he met during his nine days in jail.

[Narrator/Reporter]

Just a great human being that I truly believe was genuinely interested in seeing me get home to my family. And that, you know, you're stuck on a foreign island, you don't know what you're going to get. And that was. That was somewhat comforting knowing that somebody, you know, cared about you.

[Jordan Sillers]

Michael Wenrich, Tyler's dad, told me that he also interacted with an official who went out of his way to be encouraging. As Mr. Wenrich was walking back to his Airbnb after visiting Tyler in prison, a police sergeant offered him a ride. Mr. Wenrich was hesitant at first, but he eventually accepted.

[Michael Wenrich]

He was trying to offer me some encouragement, which was a surprise. And I said, you know, what I find amazing on this island is the people here are very, very friendly. But I saw them. I said, you know, Americans could learn a lot from the attitude of citizens here. And I remember he just beamed, smiling something proud.

[Narrator/Reporter]

99% of the locals on that island, the everyday working people, are people with integrity, people with the biggest hearts that welcome Americans with open arms. But the government and the elected officials, that was an eye opening experience to see they could have dealt with this in so many different ways, and they chose not to.

[Jordan Sillers]

This Dichotomy between how the Americans were treated by the government and how they were treated by everyday citizens and is a big part of this story. The local threats on WhatsApp were legitimate and as Ryan experienced, some of them made their way into the real world. But on the whole, the people they interacted with on a day to day basis were anything but hostile.

[Narrator/Reporter]

I can't even begin to go into detail about how many locals that said, you know, this is crazy, like you're innocent, like you have nothing, you've done nothing wrong. Like they're truly just trying to exploit Americans at this point. You know, from the place I live for a few months to restaurant owners, to other people that would say, hey, come here and eat for free. We had people that put us up to stay for free. Truly, genuinely great people outside of their, their political system.

[Jordan Sillers]

Not all the repercussions of this ordeal were as weighty as the ones you've heard. Ryan said it took him a few weeks to adjust to being home. And once he did, he realized he'd lost something while he was away.

[Ryan Watson]

I've got a bird dog that I had put a lot of training into, a lot of training into. And then unfortunately, whenever I was trapped on an island for 75 days while I was gone, my bird dog became my wife's emotional support animal. So she rubbed all the training off of her and she, she, she won't retrieve or point anything at this point in time. She's lazy and spoiled and so I've kind of surrendered my dog to my wife and so she's, she's not my dog anymore, that's for sure.

[Jordan Sillers]

Brian and Tyler also told me it took them a few weeks to get used to the rhythms of home, home life, but none reported any long term impacts on themselves or their families. Ryan does wonder if his reputation is preceding him when he applies for elk tags.

[Ryan Watson]

I can't get drawn for a damn elk tag to save my life. New Mexico has something against people on the Interpol list, I guess because I cannot get, I cannot get drawn to save my life.

[Jordan Sillers]

The good news is that Ryan can still go hunting in Oakland, Oklahoma and at the Dyer's ranch in Texas. And he doesn't have to rely on others to make sure his son gets another shot at a set of gobblers. That brace of Jake's Ryan's son harvested turns him into a die hard turkey hunter. And Ryan is relieved to say that he'll be there to hunt with his son for many springs to come.

[Ryan Watson]

Proud dad moment like we got plenty of gripping grins and he was hooked. He is a turkey hunter. Every time spring rolls around, my wife is like, can you buy him a drum set? Because the amount of squawking and squealing that's going on in this house is bless his heart, he thinks he's making some serious turkey calls.

[Jordan Sillers]

Thanks for listening to our first ever Blood Trails miniseries. We took this story somewhere a little different. No body in the woods, no cold case, but the idea that someone could be ripped from their Caribbean vacation and thrown into jail was, in my opinion, plenty terrifying to cover on this podcast. Hunters mistakenly bring ammunition into airports every single day. This is definitely what you'd call a worst case scenario. Huge thanks to everyone who agreed to speak to me, Ryan and Valerie Watson, Brian Hagrich, Tyler and Michael Wenrich, Michael Grimm, Sharita Greer and Representative Josh Burkin. If you want more on these stories, you should check out Ryan's book titled Turks and Chaos, which would have been the name of this series if he hadn't stolen it first. Tyler also published a book called 212 Years and Sharita's book is titled 59 Days Between Me and God. All things three accounts include tons of extra details and anecdotes that we weren't able to fit into this series. You can find them all on Amazon. If you have a tip about this case or another you think we should cover, send me an [e-mail] and I want to know what you think about this miniseries. Did you love it? Hate it? Should we find more prison stories or have we had enough Jailhouse rock for a while? Let me know at [e-mail] See you next time. Stay safe out there.

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[Jordan Sillers]

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