Wayne cop accidentally packs gun during honeymoon flight, gets locked up in Mexican jail
By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
September 25, 2009, 7:39AM
WAYNE -- A newlywed township police officer was freed Thursday after spending three days in a Mexican jail for accidentally packing his gun on a honeymoon flight to Cancun, a report in the Record said.
Mexican Customs agents discovered the .40 Glock handgun and hollow-point bullets in Wayne Police Sgt. Andrew Verdon's suitcase when the plane arrived in Cancun, according to the report. Verdon told the Record that as a police officer, he always carries his gun when he is off-duty in case of an emergency. The couple had taken off Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday morning, forgetting his gun was in his suitcase.
Security at Newark Liberty never found the gun, the report said.
With her husband behind bars, his wife, Marissa called her mother in New Jersey, who in turn phoned the Wayne Police Department, the report said. They contacted Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, and Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, who spent the next two days working for Verdons release through a series of phone calls and letters to Mexican authorities.
The honeymoon is back on, and the couple will meet with Mexican authorities on Monday to resolve the case, the report said.
By The Star-Ledger Continuous News Desk
September 25, 2009, 7:39AM
WAYNE -- A newlywed township police officer was freed Thursday after spending three days in a Mexican jail for accidentally packing his gun on a honeymoon flight to Cancun, a report in the Record said.
Mexican Customs agents discovered the .40 Glock handgun and hollow-point bullets in Wayne Police Sgt. Andrew Verdon's suitcase when the plane arrived in Cancun, according to the report. Verdon told the Record that as a police officer, he always carries his gun when he is off-duty in case of an emergency. The couple had taken off Newark Liberty International Airport on Tuesday morning, forgetting his gun was in his suitcase.
Security at Newark Liberty never found the gun, the report said.
With her husband behind bars, his wife, Marissa called her mother in New Jersey, who in turn phoned the Wayne Police Department, the report said. They contacted Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson, and Passaic County Sheriff Jerry Speziale, who spent the next two days working for Verdons release through a series of phone calls and letters to Mexican authorities.
The honeymoon is back on, and the couple will meet with Mexican authorities on Monday to resolve the case, the report said.
