Family claim couple are being held 'hostage' in Mexican prison over credit card dispute with resort
The family of two grandparents from Michigan have claimed the couple are being held 'hostage' in a Mexican jail over alleged wrongful credit card charges.
Paul and Christy Akeo arrived in Cancun for their vacation on March 4, but after they landed, they realized that their passports had a notice placed on them as they went through customs.
Before they even left their airport, the pair were arrested and detained, with agents telling them they faced criminal fraud charges.
According to the couples' son, Michael Lemke, the arrest came after a dispute the Akeos had over their membership with Palace Resorts, a Florida-based company that owns multiple resorts and properties in Mexico.
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Lemke said the couple had raised a dispute about their agreement after spotting charges totalling $117,000 on their credit card around three years ago.
Speaking to CBS News, Lemke said: "Our parents were able to prove that Palace Resorts had breached their contract, and in that contract, it offered them the ability to have their money back."
Along with the family's lawyer, John Manly, Lemke claimed his parents were expecting to receive $117,000 more than a year ago, but they never received the money. Their membership with the Palace Company was canceled amid the dispute, but the Akeos have gone back to Cancun multiple times over the past few years and have never run into trouble until their most recent trip.
Lemke and his sister, Lindsey, are now working to get their parents out of jail, where they've claimed they're being held 'captive'.
In a post on Facebook on March 24, Lindsey wrote: "[They] are now being held without bail in a maximum-security Mexican prison. The last 21 days of being held captive is a direct result of my parents simply challenging wrongful credit card charges."
Lemke told CBS: "Ever since [their arrest], it's just been every effort we can to try to get them out and bring them home, and also doing our best effort to prove their innocence."
Manly has alleged Palace Resorts is not cooperating with the Akeos to resolve the matter.
Meanwhile, Lemke says his parents have struggled in prison, with his mom having lost 25 pounds since the arrest.
At a court hearing, Mexican courts gave Palace Resorts six more months to gather evidence, but Manly said the courts denied the Akeo's request for house arrest.
The lawyer claimed: "This was intentional, it was knowing, it was calculated, and it was designed to extort them and to punish them for speaking out about what they felt was aggressive, wrongful, and illegal tactics by Palace Resorts."
Congressman Tom Barrett has said he is aware of the case and is doing 'everything [he] can to help'.
UNILAD has contacted Palace Resorts for comment.
Emily Brown