An article published in Saturday’s edition of El Diario de El Paso reporting that an American truck driver imprisoned in Veracruz, Mexico, has been released and is back home in Dallas is false, according to the driver’s mother.
Dallas trucker Jabin Bogan, 27, was arrested by Mexican customs agents on the Mexican side of the Bridge of the Americas in Cd. Juarez, on April 17, charged with ammunition trafficking and has been imprisoned in Mexico ever since.
Bogan was delivering a shipment of 268,000 bullets from a manufacturer in Tennessee to a firearms store in Phoenix, when his GPS failed and he took a wrong road while passing through El Paso. Bogan told Mexican customs agents he was unable to maneuver a U-turn due to heavy truck traffic at the bridge and his rig inadvertently crossed the border. Firearms and ammunition are illegal in Mexico, where even possession of a single bullet carries a prison sentence.
Bogan, the owner of Demco Express, and supporters said his arrest was a huge mistake. He has been held in a maximum-security prison in Veracruz for nearly seven months.
Bogan’s mother said the El Diario de El Paso article and other news reports saying that her son has been released are untrue and cause for concern, according to a report by KVIA News, an ABC affiliate.
“He is not home,” Aletha Smith, the truck driver’s mother said. “I’m worried, now. I don’t know why they would be saying this.”
El Paso attorney Carlos Spector in conjunction with Mexican defense attorney Emelio De La Rosa were able to secure the release of Bogan, after the payment of a fine equivalent to nearly $1,500. However, Bogan’s family and his attorneys said the fine has not been paid and the truck driver has not been released.