An Indiana missionary family who fled to the Caribbean because of COVID-19 is now facing mounting legal problems and financial ruin since investigators found an unlicensed firearm and a trove of ammunition in their possessions.
Jason and Jennifer Grogg and their two teenage daughters were detained on April 17 when authorities on the island of Dominica found the gun and ammunition inside the 40-foot shipping container the family used to store their belongings, the Indianapolis Star reported. .
After seven days in jail, Jason pleaded guilty to possessing the firearm without a license and paid a $9,250 fine to secure the release of his wife and daughters, he told the outlet.
“My wife and two daughters [Hannah, then 18, and Gracia, then 16] They were essentially in a four-foot by less than 10-foot cell for seven days. It was just incredibly inhumane,” Jason said of the ordeal.
When Jason, Jennifer and the older girls were first arrested and charged with multiple charges, including arms trafficking and customs evasion, the two younger children were detained by the Commonwealth and sent to a home for abandoned children, he explained. IndyStar. .
Jason Grogg pleaded guilty to firearms charges in the spring. Youtube/@jgrogg
“They said if you plead guilty to these ammunition and weapons charges, then we’ll let your wife and kids go, so it was a matter of me having to do that, I had to plead guilty to those charges,” Jason said. – Although he still disputed Dominica’s allegations about exactly what weapons paraphernalia was found.
During a search of the family’s rental home in the Belfast area of Dominica and the shipping container, investigators found a Glock 9mm pistol, 9mm and 20mm ammunition, four M16 magazines with 30 rounds and 17 20 gauge shells, Dominica News. Online said at the time, citing local authorities.
Jason, however, insisted that officials only discovered “some miscellaneous ammunition” and a handgun for which he planned to obtain a permit.
It was not immediately clear why authorities were searching the family’s possessions in the first place.
On May 4, just days after pleading guilty, Jason was arrested again by customs officers at Douglas Charles Airport, Dominica News Online reported.
Jason was jailed for another week accused of evading taxes on items his family brought into the country, IndyStar explained.
He is due back in court in February 2024.
The Groggs’ legal troubles came two years after Jason and Jennifer, who describe themselves as Christian missionaries, moved their family to Dominica from Logansport amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We left the United States for a very particular reason when it comes to COVID nonsense. But we also saw very clearly that this is the path God wanted us to take for purposes unknown,” Jason told Star of the move.
Jason and Jennifer Grogg moved with their family to Dominica in 2021. Youtube/@jgrogg
Back in Indiana, Jason was a firearms instructor and member of the National Rifle Association, the outlet added.
Even before the family decided to move to the Eastern Caribbean, they had written in a newsletter to friends and family that they felt the expansion of LGBTQ+ rights meant that America had rejected God.
“We felt that God was leading us out of the country to go to another place. He took us to the Commonwealth of Dominica,” Jason told the IndyStar.
The Groggs decided to move to Dominica based on the recommendation of an associate in Florida and their own research that connected them to Feed My Sheep, a faith-based nonprofit that supports youth in crisis on the island.
Feed My Sheep cut ties with Jason Grogg on April 11 – just days before authorities raided the family’s belongings – due to “his recent abusive and fraudulent behavior,” the organization said in a statement.
While he waits for progress in his case, Jason must sign the local bail book three times a week, he told IndyStar.
“The government of Dominica has my passport. And I have to leave, I have to walk to the nearest town, sign the bail book three times a week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, when there are people signing books who are out on bail for murder,” he lamented to the outlet. .
“They’re signing it maybe once every two weeks. It is clearly disproportionate,” she insisted.
The family has also burned through their savings to cover legal fees, the frustrated patriarch said.
“My wife and children all have their passports to leave the country if they needed to in an emergency. Because the government has been taking so long and taking up so much of my funds, right now we have no way to get out, unless our family pays for the tickets, there is no way for us to leave right now,” Jason said.
The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Consular Affairs confirmed it was aware of the Groggs’ arrests but did not provide further information, IndyStar said.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn