A Florida grandmother is relieved to finally be back home after spending months in Turks and Caicos with a potential prison sentence looming over her head.
Sharitta Grier, 45, returned stateside to Orlando International Airport on July 11 after being confined to the popular island paradise since May. She pleaded guilty to one count of possession of ammunition, and a judge gave her a 23-week suspended sentence and ordered her to pay a $1,500 fine for the crime.
“I’m happy. I’m overwhelmed,” Grier said to the media upon landing in Orlando Thursday night. She said she’s looking forward to spending time with her family and eating some good food. She also gave God praise despite her harrowing ordeal.
“I’m just excited about everything, ready to get back home to my family and my grandkids,” Grier said to the local media. “It’s been a long time coming, but, you know, God is still good. I’ve seen the hand of God move during this whole journey, so I’m satisfied.”
She was one of five Americans arrested and facing time for having two rounds of ammunition in the lining of her bag when she tried to return home after a surprise Mother’s Day trip she’d taken with her daughter, the New York Post reported.
The other Americans facing similar fates included Texas resident Michael Lee Evans, 72; Oklahoma resident Ryan Watson, 40; Pennsylvania resident Bryan Hagerich, 39; and Virginia resident Tyler Wenrich, 31.
Evans was allowed to return home while awaiting his fate due to a medical issue, but Watson, Hagerich and Wenrich also had to stay on the island until their cases were resolved.
They each faced at least 12 years in prison before Turks and Caicos lawmakers bowed to pressure from the U.S. to show them leniency and changed the laws to allow judges discretion to reduce penalties.
All of the men had their cases resolved before Grier. Like her, each received suspended sentences. Watson, Hagerich and Wenrich also had to pay respective fines of $2,000, $6,700 and $9,000.
According to Grier, she was initially chained to a chair and had to sleep on the floor in jail. “They chained me to a chair by my leg,” she told CBS News. “It’s cold, scared, it was awful, it was so awful, I couldn’t sleep.”
Grier said the entire process was “mentally draining,” but she acknowledged her belief that God worked through people to help her while she was on the island awaiting her fate. She also lived with Watson and Hagerich temporarily once they found out she had no place to stay.
“It was like strangers reaching out at me and like just blessing me out of nowhere, so I could really see the hand of God,” Grier said.
Grier also told People that she still doesn’t really know how the ammunition got in her luggage but thinks it may have fallen inside when she put it away in her closet so her grandchildren couldn’t reach it.
She said she has no plans to return to Turks and Caicos.
