Florida men held three years in Mexico on drug charges return to U.S.
By Zachary Fagenson and David Adams MIAMI (Reuters) - Two Florida boaters jailed in Mexico for three years after being arrested with $950,000 in cash returned to the United States on Wednesday, landing in Miami after they were exonerated of money-laundering and drug-trafficking charges, according to their lawyer. Mexican police arrested Steeven Knight and boat captain Walter Stephens in October 2011 as they were preparing to fly out of the country after collecting the final payment on the $2.4 million sale of a 75-foot power boat. "Apparently the guy they sold the boat to was a narco-trafficking suspect. But they did nothing but sell a boat," said Daniel Barks, a Virginia-based attorney representing the two men. Knight, from Fort Myers on Florida's southwest coast, owned a string of boat storage facilities, but lost money in the recession and decided to sell the boat. Knight declared the cash to customs as he was leaving Mexico, but the pair were held for months without charges and convicted in early 2013, Barks said. "After they had gone through customs and everything they were tackled by guys with hoods, masks and machine guns," he said. The arresting officer, in court documents, admitted the arrest was not made under any particular statute, but was prompted by the large sum of cash Knight was carrying, Barks added. "The case never made sense," said Democratic U.S. Representative Joe Garcia from south Florida, who pressed the U.S. State Department to help secure the men's safe return. Mexican officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the case. Multiple requests for bribes were made, including one for $250,000 from someone claiming to be a prosecutor, as the men languished in a jail, Barks said. The yacht was seized in Cancun and was impounded shortly after Knight’s arrest. Eight months later two men guarding it for the buyer were murdered, Barks said. The nearly million dollars Mexican police seized has disappeared, he added. “The money is gone, gone, gone. I have no idea where it is. But I do know this. They (the Mexican government) never lifted a finger to go after the guy who bought the boat.” Attempts to free Knight, 58, and Davis, 43, stalled in Mexico's court bureaucracy, the lawyer said. “We had no hope for a long time,” Barks said. (Additonal reporting by Lizbeth Diaz and Dave Graham in Mexico City; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
