Posted on 05/19/2011 5:00:25 AM PDT by from occupied ga
A vacation in Jamaica for an Athens pastor and his wife ends in a nightmare in Montego Bay, Jamaica.
26-year-old Steven Carter, a youth pastor at The Church at Southside in Athens, was arrested by security officials at the Jamaica Airport when they found a .22-caliber bullet stuck in the seams of the bag.
"They don't know how it got there,” said Church Pastor Jeff Williams. “Steven doesn't own a gun, but evidently it has been there a while."
Carter might be able to see a judge Thursday morning after spending the night in an open jail cell in Montego Bay with several hundred other men.
News/Talk WSB’s Richard Sangster reported Thursday morning that Carter’s father was headed to Jamaica to try and get his son out of jail.
Carter’s lawyer says the charge could go one of two ways. If he is charged with illegal ammunition, the pastor’s penalty will be a small fine. But if he is hit with a terrorism charge, Carter could get seven years in jail.
“They said it was the equivalent of bring a bomb on a plane,” Williams told Channel 2 Action News.
Williams said he'd contacted members of Congress, including Georgia Rep. Paul Broun, their representative in Athens. Broun's office had no immediate comment when the AJC called Wednesday. Williams also said Steven’s wife Erin had spoken with Sen. Johnny Isakson.
"We have been contacted by the family and are working to try to help our constituent," Isakson spokeswoman Lauren Culbertson said.
Williams said Carter has owned the bag most of his life but had not used it in about five years. He said he was told that the last time Carter fired a gun was when he was about 10 and was squirrel hunting.
“He’s a great kid and I’m terribly afraid for his safety,” said Williams. “He’s 26 years old, newly married, baby at home and they just want to get home.”
Crime is out the Wazoo, too.
Come to Jamaca—AT YOUR PERIL!
“Jamaica Mistaika”?
How can that be? I thought gun control eliminated crime. The democraps and the Brady whore's organization have been saying that for decades
Apparently so.
The island resorts are compounds built to protect vacationers from the locals including the local cops and local officials. You are warned by the resort to not visit the local towns without an escort.
a former coworker from Thailand use to tell me in broken english...if you find a live round somewhere and the cops catch you with it...you will be taken out and shot...same with stealing a loaf of bread....
Just out of curiosity, what did they think he could do with that bullet? Put somebody’s eye out?
“He’s 26 years old, newly married, baby at home and they just want to get home.”
Safe to say, there is no way;
Won’t be back for many a day.
OBTW, in Jamaica they hate whites.
OTOH, St. Maartens is a great place to go. Run by the Dutch and the French since the seventeeth century. ‘Nuff said.
Idiot writer means a shell, not a bullet.
But I suspect you knew that.
Well, he could get into a lot of mischief at the airport, obviously.
Leave it in the restroom, report it, and have the whole airport evacuated, flights cancelled, etc. Or if someone peeves him he could drop it in their pocket and get them in trouble.
After all, it’s not the size of the threat that matters; it’s the size of the fear.
Dunno. I wouldn't go there on a bet.
I bet daddy is going to be “shelling” out a lot of money for his son’s stupidity (visiting that hellhole)
Jamaica has not been a “tropical paradise” for centuries. I have to wonder how he got through security in the US, but those crack rastas in Jah-makya found a 22 round? Hmmmm.
Lord have mercy! We have become a nation of weenies..........
I’m just supposing for the sake of supposing but suppose the round didn’t come to Jamaica with him?
From his viewpoint it doesn't matter. He's the one without the chair when the music ended.
Not a shell, a cartridge.
Unless it's already been fired.
There have been similar stories of Americans who drove into Mexico (before the current horror scenes), only to have the Mexican police find a single .22 round in the glove compartment from a plinking session some time in the past. Bad news then, too.
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