A retired pastor from Maine 77 year old Joseph Bryon Martin, was
arrested by the Apanish police last year for carrying $450,00 worth of
cocaine and has been sentenced to six years in a Spanish prison after he
allegedly fell victim to a “romance scam” that targets senior citizens
in the United States.
Martin had no idea he was moving drugs. He thought he was only doing a
favour for the woman he met online in 2009 by helping her move real
estate documents she asked him to help her with.
His son, Andy Martin, told Fox News Latino that he is bringing his dad's plight to the public because
"I'd like to get the word out about this,""so other lonely seniors don't fall prey."
"Seniors get trapped, and they send money, and, once they do that, these
people sell their information to other scammers. I want people to know
what's happening."
He testified in February before the US Senate Special Committee on
Aging, which is looking into catfishing schemes that target seniors.
He said:
“At the age of 77 and in poor health, this likely is a life sentence,”
Martin told the committee about his father. “The idea that my dad is now
a convicted international drug smuggler is surreal, as he had no prior
criminal history. Before this conviction, my dad had never been charged
with even a misdemeanor. I don’t recall him ever getting so much as a
speeding ticket or parking ticket in his entire life.”
According to Andy, his dad had been chatting online with a Spanish woman
he met on the Internet in 2009 who went by the name of Joy. She told
his dad that she was a struggling artist and needed money and even
though his dad was retired and only had the little money he got from the
Govt. He always gave 'Joy' between $500-$2500 each month and couldn’t
always pay his own rent.
However when his Dad got married to his third wife in April 2015, they
were all relieved. His dad tried to break things off with Joy with the
news that he had married someone else in the US and that he would no
longer send her money.
Somehow Joy convinced his Dad to travel to Peru to pick up real estate
documents for an estate she claimed she had inherited. She told him she
couldn't get a visa to make the trip to Peru herself and his Dad fell
for it. He said they all told his Dad not to go, even his new wife
objected to it but he still made the trip.
In Peru, he picked up two sealed packages that he told Andy felt like books, according to the Portland Press Herald.
However, his flight to London was stopped in Madrid and Martin was
subsequently arrested by local authorities who found the cocaine in his
possession.
Andy said his father suffers from chronic back pain and needs surgery.
He had been treated for prostate cancer, had quadruple bypass surgery
and has a pacemaker. He's living in the prison infirmary with eight to
ten other prisoners. He's asking the US committee to help seek his
father's releases based on his poor health.
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection revealed on Wednesday that they have created a new initiative
to fight such scams on the elderly called “Operation Cocoon.”
So far it has prevented 16 senior citizens from boarding planes, and
foreign authorities have arrested 15 suspects alleged to be involved in
the “romance scam.
