BROWNSVILLE, Texas, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- A former U.S. Marine who was imprisoned in Mexico for four months after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with a shotgun has been released, officials said.
Jon Hammar, 27, was released from a prison in the border town of Matamoros, near Brownsville, Texas, CNN reported. He was back in the United States Friday night.
"These past few months have been an absolute nightmare for Jon and his family, and I am so relieved that this whole ordeal will soon be over," U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., said in a statement.
Hammar was arrested Aug. 13 when he and a friend drove to Mexico from Texas in a motor home, with a shotgun in it The New York Times reported.
"It's like a miracle; that's the only way I can express it," said his mother, Olivia Hammar, who lives in Florida. "It's our little Christmas miracle."
