Two Michigan grandparents detained in Mexico for over a month because of a timeshare dispute are finally heading home after their daughter pleaded for their release.
Christy Akeo, 60, and Paul Akeo, 58, who live in Spring Arbor, Michigan, were held in a Cereso, Cancun, prison for 32 days since they traveled there for vacation earlier this month and were arrested by Mexican authorities, as their daughter and attorney previously told Fox News Digital.
“The Akeo family wishes to thank President Donald J. Trump, his Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler and Congressman Tom Barrett [R-Minn.] for working tirelessly for the release of Paul and Christy Akeo,” their daughter and son-in-law, Lindsey Lemke Hull and Michael Lemke, said in a Thursday evening statement. “We also want to express our deepest gratitude to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Mark Coolidge Johnson, Charge d ’Affaires, U.S. Embassy Mission Mexico and his dedicated team.”
They added that after “four straight weeks of uncertainty,” Rep. Barrett’s commitment to helping the Akeos return home safely gave them “hope and reassurance.”
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“[Barrett] traveled to Cancun at great personal risk, camped out at the prison and made it clear that he would not return home without them,” the Hulls said. “His heroic efforts as a veteran represent the finest traditions of our nation’s military to never leave an American behind.”
“No American should be held hostage to the demands of a private company anywhere in the world”
Rep. Barrett previously told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that he traveled to Mexico to visit with the Akeos in prison and to push for their release after learning of their deteriorating physical condition.
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“Enough is enough. After spending nearly a month in a maximum security Mexican prison over what amounts to a contract dispute on a time-share, it’s long overdue for the Mexican authorities to release Paul and Christy,” Barrett said.
The Akeos are currently receiving care from physicians and therapists.
“We ask that their privacy be respected as they rest and heal. The family will have much more to say about this ordeal in the coming days,” the Hulls said.
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On March 4, Christy and Paul were traveling to a resort at Isla Mujeres. Mexican authorities arrested them upon arrival and charged them with fraud for disputing credit card charges stemming from a timeshare they purchased in 2021 at a different resort in Cancun.
“The place they’re at is a hellhole,” attorney John Manly previously told Fox News Digital of jail conditions. “It’s filled with cartel members, drug dealers, rapists, murderers. Imagine what that’s like every day. For this grandmother and veteran who just wanted to go on vacation. And until today, until really the last couple of days, no one has helped them.”
They were detained over a dispute with their timeshare purchased through a resort company called Palace Elite Resorts, which owns various resort properties in Mexico and has offices in Florida. In 2021, the Akeos purchased a Cancun timeshare for $6,932 per month for a term of 11 years.
In June 2022, Paul filed a complaint with American Express alleging that Palace breached their contract and failed to provide the goods and services they paid for via Paul’s American Express Card, which Palace Elite Resorts contested.
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American Express investigated the complaint and sided with the Akeos, issuing a chargeback of more than $116,000 in September 2022, their attorney said.
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The Palace Company, local Mexican media and authorities in Mexico told a different story about the Akeos, saying they defrauded the hotel company out of more than $100,000.
Mexican officials say the Akeos signed their timeshare contract in 2021, but in 2022, the hotel received 13 canceled transactions stemming from Paul’s credit card totaling $116,587, or more than 2.4 million pesos, according to a press release from the Attorney General’s Office of the State of Quintana Roo.
The Palace Company told Fox News Digital in a statement that “between 2016 and 2021, the Akeos knowingly and willingly entered into 19 separate membership agreements with Palace Elite (attached), investing over $1.4 million USD in exchange for exclusive benefits and rates intended strictly for personal use.”
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“In 2021,” the company continued, “they were found to be in material breach of those agreements after promoting and profiting from their benefits on social media—conduct explicitly prohibited under the terms they agreed to. They were formally notified of this violation and, in April 2022, signed a waiver acknowledging their breach and committing to refrain from any further use of Palace Elite branding or commentary about the company.”
After signing the waiver, the Palace Company alleged, the Akeos “began disputing their membership charges with their credit card companies.”
“These disputes—despite relating to services they had actively used—were granted, resulting in over $100,000 USD in reversed payments and substantial financial harm to Palace Elite,” the Palace Company said.
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Palace Elite filed a criminal complaint in August 2023.
The Akeos’ attorney, responding to the Palace’s statement, said Christy wrote to a Palace representative on April 8, 2022, saying she and Paul “do still believe we have done nothing wrong to breach our contract but feel Palace has given us no other option but to sign the documents, even though this is against our better judgment.”
“We love Palace Resorts and would miss it if we could not go,” she wrote at the time.
Her attorney said there is dispute over whether the Akeos had the right to market and sell their timeshare “weeks” at the resort to third parties, but they believe the matter should be resolved in a civil suit and should not have resulted in the Akeos being sent to prison.
American Express did not respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
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