Fort Hood Soldier Remains Jailed In Mexico
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Fort Hood Soldier Remains Jailed In Mexico
A Fort Hood Army specialist who was arrested with a small arsenal in his car in Mexico remains jailed, waiting for a judge to decide whether the soldier entered the country by mistake.
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(May 9, 2008)—A Fort Hood soldier remains in jail in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after he says he mistakenly drove across the Mexican border with firearms in his car.

Spc. Richard Torres was carrying a small arsenal in his car including an AR-15 assault rifle, a .45-caliber handgun, 171 rounds of ammunition, several cartridges and three knives.

He didn't try to hide the weapons when he reached a Mexican border checkpoint, but he insisted he hadn't meant to cross the border with the guns, which in Mexico are restricted for use only by the military.

Instead, he says he was looking for parking in El Paso when he inadvertently drove onto a bridge leading to Mexico and couldn't turn around.

Juarez is a border city where drug cartels pay top dollar for exactly the kind of high-powered weapons Torres had in his car.

The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives concluded that Torres wasn't smuggling weapons into Mexico to sell them, but the Iraq war veteran continues to wait for a Mexican judge to decide whether to accept his account.

Mexican prosecutors have said only that the arrest reflects the government's commitment to battling "every type of delinquency and organized crime."

Latest Comments

Posted by: Tamar Location: Waco on May 12, 2008 at 10:13 AM

I think they should free him, if you think about it we free Illegals everyday in our country. Now why is Bush not over there fighting to free this soldier. When it was that convict from Mexico who raped and killed those 2 15yr olds he was sticking his neck out then to free him!
Posted by: It can happen Location: Ft. Hood on May 12, 2008 at 10:10 AM

I agree with CM once you are on the bridge there is no turn around, you can tell that just from looking at the picture.
Posted by: Mary Location: Cove on May 12, 2008 at 09:57 AM

I don't know what this guy's real story is, and I'm not defending him, but does anyone find it odd? The Mexicans apparently didn't waste any time slamming this American in prison, but they sure raise a ruckus when it's the other way around.
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