The owner of the store and her daughter are American citizens and live in Yuma, Arizona. So to change the picture a little, an American citizen in Mexico called the local police for help when her daughter was approached by another American for immoral purposes. The police responded and arrested the man – rather than looking for a bribe from a “rich American,” the police were providing protection to an American and her daughter.

The grandfather should not have been arrested – no one on either side of the border disagrees on this point. However, it appears that the one primarily responsible for his ordeal is Ed Chrisman’s own grandson. Much easier for the family to blame the Mexican police and judicial system for the old man’s suffering when, if the grandson is guilty, the fault lies mainly with the grandson for callously putting his grandfather in harm’s way.

From “The Arizona Republic” …

<<In an interview with “The Arizona Republic” last week, the 13-year-old girl’s mother offered an entirely different account. The mother, who filed the criminal complaint, said she and her daughter are not greedy or corrupt Mexicans, but U.S. citizens who live in Yuma and filed the police report out of fear.

<<”This is the truth,” the girl’s mother concluded, her eyes welling. “My daughter is afraid. . . . And all the lies keep coming” in news stories.

<<The mother’s version of the event: The Chrismans first visited on Jan. 5 while her daughter was tending the shop with two other women. The mother said Gary Chrisman entered the store alone and took some normal pictures with permission, then said, “Without clothes, I’ll pay more.” When the girls refused, the girl’s mother said, the visitor displayed a knife and said things would go bad if the girls told anyone. She added that the man wrote his name and phone number on a sheet of paper, telling the girls to call if they had a change of heart.

<<She said her daughter was shaken that day as she told of the incident.

<<On Jan. 8, she said, Chrisman returned and again offered to pay for photos without clothing. “My daughter told him, ‘No, and get out of here.’ ”

<<The girl’s mother said she arrived in her car as the men were driving away. She followed, calling police on her cellphone.

<<As a businesswoman who relies partly on tourism, she said she has no motive to fabricate such a story. She added that her daughter remains fearful and has been traumatized by media coverage.

<<”They say I’m telling lies, but police have a page with his name and number on it,” she added.

<<Accounts of what happened in Los Algodones merge on one important point: Edward Chrisman did not enter the store.

<<The girl’s mother said she has no idea why the octogenarian was arrested and does not believe he should be in jail.

Ed Chrisman is home now, with memories of a terrible experience. Our hearts go out to him. But it is interesting that there does not seem to be similar outrage that Gary Jr. remains in jail in Mexico. Perhaps that is where he should be.

But why is everyone so quick to decide that the case against Gary Jr. is just a corrupt attempt to stick it to a rich American? The US news reports have been completely biased – nothing has been published here except what Gary Jr.’s family says, and they only know what he told them. It took some searching but I finally found the case as it is being reported in the Mexican media:

1. On 5 Jan 2009, Gary Jr. stopped at a convenience store, “Novedades Jasmine,” and snapped headshots of two fully-clothed girls with their permission. He gave them 200 pesos ($25).

2. On 8 Jan 2009, three days later, Gary Jr. returned to the store and offered the girls money in exchange for taking nude photos of them. The girls refused, but he wrote his name and Yuma phone number on a piece of paper and gave it to them in case they changed their minds. Before leaving, he flashed a knife and told the girls not to say anything to anyone about his offer.

3. The owner of the store (and mother of one of the girls) returned soon afterward and found the girls visibly upset. In spite of Gary Jr.’s warning, the girls told the woman what had just happened.

4. The woman called the local police and reported the incident, and gave them the piece of paper with Gary Jr.’s name and Yuma phone number as proof. The police located Gary Jr. with his grandfather and arrested both men.

Shortly after this story broke, a woman in Yuma reported that Gary Jr. was a known meth addict and had attacked her sister several years earlier. Allegedly complaints were made against Gary Jr. to the sheriff’s department during the period 2004-2006, but nothing ever came of them.

Is Gary Jr. innocent? I hope he is, but to decide that there’s nothing to the case merely because he is an American and the alleged activity occured in Mexico is both racist and stupid.