Family of Georgia teen, 18, sentenced to four months in jail in the Cayman Islands for breaking mandatory quarantine to watch boyfriend's jet ski competition appeals to Trump for help
The family of the 18-year-old college student sentenced to jail for breaking COVID-19 quarantine measures in the Cayman Islands is appealing to President Donald Trump to bring her home.
Skylar Mack, a pre-med Mercer University student from Georgia, and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, were sentenced to four months in prison last week for breaking the island’s mandatory 14-day quarantine.
Mack isolated for two days and tested negative for COVID-19 before she abandoned her tracking device and left isolation to attend her boyfriend’s jet-skiing competition.
In the desperate bid to reduce her sentence her family has appealed to Trump in a written letter.
His office said her case would be forwarded to the 'appropriate' federal agency, likely the US State Department.
The family of Georgia teen Skylar Mack, 18, who is jailed in the Cayman Islands for breaking a mandatory quarantine, is appealing to Donald Trump for help
'We're not asking for her to get an exception. We're asking for her not to be the exception,' Mack's grandmother Jeanne Mack said to the Today Show on Monday
They were sentenced to four months in prison on December 15. Mack pictured above in handcuffs
An American college student was sentenced to four months in jail in the Cayman Islands after breaking COVID-19 protocol while on vacation. Her family is now fighting to get her out. @stephgosk has more. pic.twitter.com/xRBylgt0P5
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 21, 2020
An American college student was sentenced to four months in jail in the Cayman Islands after breaking COVID-19 protocol while on vacation. Her family is now fighting to get her out. @stephgosk has more. pic.twitter.com/xRBylgt0P5
'We're not asking for her to get an exception. We're asking for her not to be the exception,' Mack's grandmother Jeanne Mack said to the Today Show on Monday.
'She just wants to come home. She knows she made a mistake, she owns up to that, but she’s pretty hysterical right now,' she added.
Mack and her boyfriend’s attorney Jonathan Hughes said her four-month prison sentence would have 'a particularly harsh effect on her.'
The young couple are the first to be handed down the penalty for breaking isolation on the small British territory in the Caribbean.
The island set strict rules in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 and has reported 311 confirmed cases and two deaths since the start of the pandemic. The island is home to about 64,000 residents.
Mack traveled to the Cayman Islands on November 27 to visit her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, 24. She tested negative for COVID-19 after arriving and broke her quarantine after two days and took off her electronic monitoring bracelet to attend her boyfriend's jet skiing competition
On December the couple was sentenced to four months in jail. At first Mack and Ramgeet were initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine after pleading guilty to violating the isolation period, but a prosecutor argued that the punishment was too lenient
Mack traveled to the Cayman Islands on November 27 to visit her boyfriend.
Mack and Ramgeet have been together for seven months. Ramgeet is a competitive jet skier like Mack's father
She tested negative before leaving and negative after arriving, but she broke her quarantine after two days, leaving her electric monitoring device behind.
Just one day before the couple went to the jet ski event the government changed its penalties for violating isolation from up to a year in jail and/or a fine of $1,000 to a sentence of up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
'It's not like her to make this kind of a mistake. She knows she screwed up. She knows she should have to pay for it,' her grandmother said.
At first Mack and Ramgeet were initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine after pleading guilty to violating the isolation period, but a prosecutor argued that the punishment was too lenient.
Judge Roger Chapple said in their December 15 sentencing that the couple broke quarantine rules due to their 'selfishness and arrogance.'
The White House said Mack's case would be forwarded to the 'appropriate' federal agency, likely the US State Department
At the event Mack wore no mask and did not practice social distancing for the seven hours she was there, police said to the Cayman Compass.
Hughes will appear before the territory’s court of appeal on Tuesday to argue for a lesser sentence.
Mack and Ramgeet have been together for seven months. Ramgeet is a competitive jet skier like Mack's father.