An Arizona mom held in a Mexican jail under suspicion of drug smuggling was freed from custody Thursday (May 30). Yanira Maldonado was held for over a week.
"I want to say, 'Thank you,' first to God because I'm free now," she told the press with her husband and other family members at her side. "I'm very grateful that I'm free, for my family, for my children."
The Mormon mother of seven denied the allegations from the start, maintaining that she had no idea that the greenery was hidden beneath her bus seat. Surveillance footage proved that she boarded the bus with no packages in hand, as accused. "The evidence was very clear that she never [had] contact with the drug," family lawyer, Jose Francisco Benitez Pas said following her release.
Police shared photos of the small packages she was accused of smuggling onto the bus, but did not release footage showing her getting on the bus holding only a purse and a water bottle. "I was in shock," she said of being wrongfully accused. "I'm like this is not real. This is not happening. I don't know. I thought maybe this is not real. I thought maybe this was a set-up or a joke or something. I was just waiting for it to end but I realized that it's real, that I'm being detained," she said from custody earlier in the week.
She and her family believe she was framed.
Maldonado is a native of Mexico but became a naturalized U.S. citizen. "I love Mexico," she assured. "My family is still there. So Mexico….it's not Mexico's fault. It's a few people who you know did this to me."
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Photo: KDVR
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