Thoughts of Son with Down Syndrome Helped Man Through Ordeal
A Washington state man told NBC News that the thought of his wife and 5-year-old son with Down syndrome is what helped him make it through two years in a Nicaraguan prison until his drug sentence was withdrawn on appeal.
“Just thinking of my son, he kept my hopes alive, kept my sprits alive,” 35-year-old Jason Puracal told NBC’s “Today” show. Puracal’s family flew to New York to meet him Sunday night after he arrived in the U.S., NBC said.
Puracal was accused along with 10 other suspects of using money from suspected drug trafficker Manuel Ponce Espinoza to by farms in Nicaragua, but Ponce testified he didn’t know Puracal, and Puracal maintained he didn’t know any of the other defendants. He said his home sales were legitimate purchases by Americans, Canadians and Europeans looking to establish on the Nicaraguan and Costa Rican coasts.
See the video from Puracal’s interview with NBC below, and for the full story from NBC News, click here.
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