SOURCE:
NEW YORK DAILY NEWSURL:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/retired-maine-pastor-released-prison-drug-mule-scam-article-1.2674007by: Nicole Bitette
A 77-year-old retired pastor returned home this week after being jailed for serving as an unintentional drug mule as part of an online scam.
Joseph Bryon Martin of Maine was one of many Americans over the age of 60 who were tricked into smuggling drugs in what his son called a "romance scam."
Martin was arrested and sentenced last July to six years in prison for smuggling three pounds of cocaine into Spain, the Portland Press Herald reported.
His son, Andy Martin, said his father spoke to who he thought was a woman named Joy online around five years ago, whom he fell in love with.
The made-up woman convinced Joseph Martin to pick up a sealed package of real estate documents with drugs concealed inside in South America and then deliver them to Spain.
"Dad quickly became infatuated with Joy," Andy Martin said in front of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in February.
"She gave him lots of attention and told him that she loved him and wanted to come to America and marry him," he continued.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said con artists form personal relationships with victims such as Martin — sometimes over the course of years — and then use the victims at their most vulnerable state to smuggle concealed packages across borders unknowingly.
"It is outrageous that the individuals who perpetrate these crimes against seniors like Mr. Martin are free, likely targeting more unsuspecting people, while the victims languish in foreign prisons, thousands of miles from their families," Collins said in a statement.
Back in March, Collins and eight other senators called for help from Secretary of State Kerry or the American ambassador to Spain, James Costos to assist in getting an early release for Martin.
Collins and her staff, as well as U.S. Embassy officials in Madrid, made it possible for Martin to reunite.
Officials say more than 100 other Americans over the age of 60 are serving sentences overseas after being duped into serving as drug mules.
