Second American avoids prison time in Turks and Caicos on weapons charge

A Virginia man avoided a long prison sentence Tuesday when a judge in Turks and Caicos sentenced him to time served for illegally bringing bullets to the island getaway.

Tyler Wenrich, 31, was fined $9,000 and sentenced to three weeks time served, meaning he was free to return to Louisa, Virginia.

Wenrich, who works as a paramedic and has an 18-month-old baby, had pleaded guilty to an ammunition charge that could have exposed him to a 12-year prison sentence.

But a judge ruled there were “extraordinary circumstances” in the matter, making Wenrich eligible for the shorter sentence.

Wenrich’s road home followed the same path as fellow American Bryan Hagerich, who had also faced a 12-year term before being set free.

Wenrich had been on a cruise ship when the vessel docked in Grand Turk. Bullets from a previous hunting trip had been left unknowingly in his bag as he went through a security checkpoint.

The Virginia man said it was an innocent oversight, and he had no ill intentions when he accidentally left the rounds in his bag.