Jail release an ordeal for Arlington man imprisoned in Mexico

ARLINGTON — One thing’s for sure: Edward Chrisman has no plans to return to Mexico.

The 88-year-old Arlington man crossed the border into Yuma, Ariz., a free man Saturday night.

“Oh, man, it feels like a resurrection or something,” Chrisman said by phone from Yuma, Ariz. “It’s nice. I can’t even get my head on yet. It’s so nice to get out in the sun.”

Chrisman spent 65 days imprisoned in Mexico, accused of a crime he insists he didn’t commit.

He was wintering in Yuma when he decided on Jan. 8 to take a quick trip across the border into Algodones with his grandson, Gary Chrisman Jr.

The grandson’s stop at a convenience store landed both men in jail, after Gary Chrisman Jr. offered $25 to two fully-clothed girls for a photo. He told his family he had been taking cultural photos with a new camera all day. Edward Chrisman didn’t even go into the store.

Police arrested both men, alleging the pair tried to pay young girls to pose nude for photos.

The family, which has branches in Yuma and Snohomish County, has been fighting to get both men released ever since.

His release proved nearly as difficult and harrowing as the rest of his time in Mexico.

A Mexican judge approved Chrisman’s release Feb. 9. Prison officials had to wait for the paperwork to make its way through the Mexican judicial system.

Finally, the family learned a courier was on his way to the prison Friday with the paperwork. Edward Chrisman’s son, who lives in Yuma, left work and rushed to the prison in Mexicali.

And then he waited.

After five hours of standing outside the prison, he drove back to Yuma, snatched 45 minutes of sleep and returned to Mexico again.

Saturday morning is visiting day at the prison. Edward Chrisman was meeting with his son and other family when a prison official insisted the elder Chrisman go to a doctor’s appointment. Now.

Prison officials, wishing to avoid publicity, decided to sneak Edward Chrisman out of the prison, his family said. They rushed out of the prison and looked for Edward Chrisman, but he wasn’t there. An interpreter told them prison officials were escorting Edward Chrisman to the border.

“We got there, we rushed around and he wasn’t there,” Chrisman’s son, Gary Chrisman Sr., said. “I didn’t know what the game was. We’ve been jacked around so many times we didn’t know what was happening.”

Mexican immigration officials had Edward Chrisman sequestered at the border. They kept him there for more than five hours while his family waited nervously outside.

His family wasn’t allowed to see him, speak with him or pass him a note. They finally learned Mexican officials were accusing Edward Chrisman of breaking the law, traveling more than 10 miles beyond the border without a permit.

Before he could be freed, Edward Chrisman had to prove he wound up deep in Mexico because the police had taken him there.

“We called everybody we could think of,” Gary Chrisman Sr. said. “We assumed we could just get him out, and once again, we couldn’t.”

At just past 5 p.m. on Saturday, the matter was straightened out. The family was told to walk Edward Chrisman across the border. They had just stepped onto American soil when a Mexican guard came running after them, screaming at them to come back.

They had to go back a different way, through American customs.

“We showed his passport and thought we were free again,” Gary Chrisman Sr. said. “Then a U.S. guard comes running out and said ‘You have to be fingerprinted before you leave.’ ”

Finally, about 6:30 p.m., Edward Chrisman walked across the border and onto U.S. soil.

“He just wanted to get as far away from Mexico as he could,” Gary Chrisman Sr. said. “We called all of our family and we all cheered as we were driving away.”

More than two months in a prison was hard on Chrisman’s health. His family took him to the hospital for a series of tests. Later, for the first time in more than two months, Chrisman slept in his own bed in Yuma.

Chrisman’s family was deluged with calls from the news media, most of which they turned away. On Sunday, Edward Chrisman spoke briefly with The Herald. He said he plans to stay in Yuma for about another month but expects that his Snohomish County relatives will reunite with him there soon.

The Chrismans still are working to win Chrisman Jr.’s release. It could be weeks or months before the younger Chrisman stands trial.

Edward Chrisman won’t be going back.

“No, he’s never setting foot in Mexico again,” Gary Chrisman Sr. said.

Debra Smith: 425-339-3197, dsmith@heraldnet.com.