Wrong Turn Trucker Freed After 7 Months in Jail
Jabin Bogan has been set free after a wrong turn, which he calls an "honest mistake," landed him in a Mexican prison for seven months. Bogan was doing his job as a delivery driver when he entered the country after missing a turn to Arizona.
"He told me he was coming from the warehouse, missed a turn and was stuck one-way going south," Denis Mekenye, Bogan's manager at Demco Express, told ABC News. "At that point he asked a cop how to make a U-turn and was told to go three or four miles, but at that point was in Mexico."
What led authorities to arrest Bogan was the fact that he was carrying 268,000 rounds of ammunition in his truck. He was taken into custody as he tried to cross the border back into the United States. His mother paid a significant fine in order to ensure her son's freedom.
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Bogan was reunited with his family, including his six-year-old son, mother and girlfriend on Friday. WFAA was there for the emotional reunion at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and captured the moment when Bogan first saw his family.
"It feels so good to hear you say 'Daddy!'" he exclaimed. "My son, that's my motivation," Bogan told WFAA. "That kept me going every day. My mama is my strength – without my mama I wouldn't be nowhere now. My family is my pride and joy."
"God is good, world," Bogan's mother, Aletha Smith said. "I am so relieved, so grateful. I'm ecstatic. Praise God. Praise God."
"I want to say God is a good man, God has blessed me," Bogan added.
Others are also glad that Bogan has been reunited with his family and is home again after such a long absence. He could have faced more than 25 years in prison, ABC News reported, had he been convicted of transporting ammunition.
"I am so happy to see this young man returned to his family. I think anyone could end up doing what he did when traveling in an unfamiliar place," noted WFAA reader Janis Ann Spear.
