GLENDALE, Ariz. — A Glendale father is behind bars in Mexico for mistakenly leaving his gun in the car while driving down for a weekend getaway.
"This was actually supposed to be our first annual Beavers family vacation," said Francine Nicholson.
Nicholson, her husband Ira Beavers, and their kids were road tripping to Rocky Point, Mexico on July 30 to enjoy the beach.
"So it was my family, and my in-laws," Nicholson said. "Everyone crossed, everyone made it to the resort except us."
Instead of a hotel room, Beavers landed behind bars in a Mexican federal prison.
"At the Lukeville Border we were stopped and our car was inspected just like everyone else."
Under the seat, Border Patrol found his gun. Nicholson said he simply forgot to remove it before driving down.
"It absolutely is legal here in Arizona, it was a 9 mm Glock," Nicholson said.
Legal here, but illegal there as Mexico has stricter laws on firearms.
"Terrifying, absolutely terrifying," she said of the arrest. "We were both handcuffed in front of our children. My husband has never been arrested, neither one of us has."
She was released after 48 hours but her husband is still there.
With three months already under his belt, last Friday Beavers was sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison for what Nicholson calls an accident.
"Two years, nine months, and 17 days to be exact," Nicholson said.
With a new lawyer, she is currently in the appeals process and hopes to have him home by Thanksgiving.
"We have one more chance to appeal," she said.
In the meantime, she has a warning for others.
"There’s so many of us that go down to Rocky Point every weekend, we spend so much of our money there, it’s a beautiful place but we have to be hyper-vigilant about everything that’s in our vehicles at all times," Nicholson said.
She emphasized that this could happen to anyone. The family started a GoFundMe to help pay for the legal battle and other unexpected costs.
"Please donate anything you can and share, share, share," Nicholson said.
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