SPC Richard Torres; another Prisoner of War - Army Times
May 11, 2008Too many folks are unaware of this American Soldier being held prisoner in a foreign country. SPC Torres took a wrong turn in El Paso and is now cooling his heals in one of Mexico’s worst prisons on weapons charges.
EL PASO, Texas — When he crossed the U.S.-Mexico border, Spc. Richard Torres was carrying a small arsenal in his car: an AR-15 assault rifle, a .45-caliber handgun, 171 rounds of ammunition, several cartridges and three knives.
Having spent the last few years in close proximity to young Soldiers, this sounds about typical. Actually, I wonder why he’d only have the AR-15 and a .45. Some pretty boring firearms by my local standards.
Torres, 25, said he had been driving all night to get from Fort Hood, in central Texas, to Fresno, Calif., where his mother lives. He planned to celebrate her birthday and put the weapons in storage while he deployed to Honduras to join the war on drugs. The guns were Torres’ personal property and not required for his military duties.
We need to spread the word about this poor kid, he doesn’t need to be rotting in prison for taking a wrong turn!
Related reading:
Hood soldier ordered to stand trial in Mexico (April 27)
Soldier arrested in Mexico formally charged (April 24)
I wonder what the State Department has to say about this? There’s nothing in the articles about the American Embassy or any representation. It’s easy enough to verify his deployment orders, which should lend some credibility to his story.