Four months jail for firearms discovered on yacht
by nfw Daily News/Sail-World on 1 Jun 2009
Florent Lemacon, killed by French commandos when they tried to release him and his wife and son(pictured) from pirates. Would he have been better to have carried a firearm? SW
The question of whether to carry a gun on board a yacht for protection has been answered for one American citizen, when he was released from a Mexican jail after more than four months in custody.
John Peerson, captain of the $4 million private yacht 'Reel Screamer,' was released from jail Wednesday and flew back to the United States from Cancun.
'We just want him back to normal and to realize that he's safe and nothing's going to happen to him,' said Peerson's mother, Dian Pritchard. 'It was all just a bizarre thing from beginning to end.'
Peerson, 48, of DeFuniak Springs, was arrested Jan. 20 during a stop in the Port of Isla Mujeres, off the Yucatan Peninsula, where Mexican authorities boarded the yacht and seized a pistol, a rifle, a shotgun and ammunition.
The former Destin boat captain was en route from Costa Rica to Miami and had stopped for fuel at the Colombian island of San Andres. By the time he reached Mexico's Isla Mujeres, the weather was threatening.
When Peerson stopped to wait out the storm, Mexican authorities asked him to move the yacht to a military docking station for a drug search.
Peerson insisted they search the yacht where it was rather than risk damage in transit. He was arrested on the weapons charges soon after that.
He spent 127 days in jail and in court arguing his case.
The guns belonged to yacht owner Wayne Rickert and were aboard for protection against pirates, terrorists and even drug users looking to party, Peerson's family said. Peerson insisted he had declared the guns beforehand.
The language barrier in court only made his case tougher to prove, Pritchard said. An attorney eventually cleared it up.
'It's been such a roller coaster. All during this whole ordeal, they've told us one thing and that never happened, so we've just been up and down and up and down,' she said. 'I'm sure those days must have felt like years to him.'
The yacht has not been released.
Peerson was spending his first few days home 'just trying to decompress,' Prichard said, but may talk about his trials later.
'He's back and I have one word, and that's ‘hallelujah,' ' she said. 'And don't go to Mexico.'
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