A married couple from rural Michigan has been imprisoned in Cancún for more than three weeks after being accused of committing fraud against Palace Resorts, a Mexican-based timeshare and hospitality company.
Paul and Christy Akeo were detained March 4 upon arrival at the Cancún International Airport, marking the beginning of an ordeal that has reportedly landed them in a maximum-security prison and sent their family into panic.
This week, children of the couple spoke out, declaring the accusations to be false and calling on the U.S. government to intervene.
“The urgency is beyond important because we have no idea what is happening to them at any time,” said Lindsey Hull, Christy’s daughter, noting that the couple is being held without bail and being denied communication with family.
“Their lives are in danger,” she added. “Their health is declining. We need to get these people home.”
Paul is a 58-year-old Navy veteran employed as an engineer with the Michigan state police and Christy, 60, is grandmother and small business owner, according to their U.S.-based attorney, John Manly.
They are being “held captive in a hell hole of a Mexican maximum-security prison,” Manly said in a statement to CNN.
The Akeos — who live in Spring Arbor, an unincorporated community about halfway between Ann Arbor and Kalamazoo — traveled to Cancún on March 4 expecting a carefree vacation, Manly and their children said, only to be stopped by authorities soon after their plane landed.
In a statement, reportedly issued two weeks later, prosecutors in the state of Quintana Roo allege that the couple in 2022 canceled 13 credit card payments to a hotel chain totaling more than $116,500. Though prosecutors didn’t offer further evidence, they said the activity constitutes fraud.
According to Manly, the case stems from a 2021 timeshare agreement that the Akeos signed with Palace Elite, a subsidiary of The Palace Company, which is headquartered in Mérida, Yucatán. One of its brands is Palace Resorts, known for luxury all-inclusive properties in Mexico and Jamaica.
Manly said the company failed to provide the services promised in the agreement, and as a result, the couple disputed the charges with their credit card company, American Express.
Christy Akeo also shared their experiences on social media.
According to a statement from The Palace Company, a criminal complaint was filed after the couple “fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same.”
The company noted that “Interpol validated the case” and that a court-approved arrest warrant was issued “following failed attempts to serve notice.”
Hull insisted that her family received no notices and said that, although her mom did sound off in a Facebook group of confused and angry Palace customers, she is baffled as to why that might have contributed to the arrest.
“What happened,” Manly said in a report on WLNS, a radio station in Lansing, Michigan, “was they got lured into this timeshare, and initially it was some reasonable amount a month, and then — according to what we’ve been told — they took away their benefits and essentially made them increase their monthly contribution to $6,200 a month.”
“The idea that they’re sitting in a maximum-security prison over a timeshare dispute is, at best, unacceptable,” Hull added.
Manly said the company was, in fact, the party that breached the contract, notably the part that allowed the Akeos to sell weeks of their timeshare. But when they attempted to do that, he said, “Palace just began to cancel the reservations.”
A man identified as the couple’s son, Michael Lemke, told WLNS that a judge gave Palace Resorts six months to gather evidence. He’s concerned this could mean that the Akeos might be detained in Mexico for a while.
“The situation is incredibly unfortunate over something that is a contract dispute that … seemed like it was done and over with,” Lemke said.
U.S. Congressman Tom Barrett has pledged to assist the family by working with the White House and State Department to quickly resolve the situation.
“I have assured them that my team and I are acting immediately and doing everything we can to help,” Barrett said.
With reports from Diario de Yucatán, CNN and WLNS Radio
