WASHINGTON (Nexstar) — Paula Reed says her son, Trevor, is sitting in a Russian prison for a crime she says he didn’t commit.
In July, a Russian court convicted Trevor Reed, 29, an ex-Marine from Texas, on charges of assaulting a police officer after a night of heavy drinking in Moscow.
“The American dream was just so close for him, and then it was just grabbed one day from him in Moscow,” said Paula.
Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul says Trevor is really a political pawn.
“Now he’s been in Putin’s prison for more than a year for a crime that he absolutely didn’t commit,” said McCaul. “And he’s facing another nine years in a Russian labor camp… The fact that he is being held simply because he is a U.S. Marine is a tragedy of justice that should not prevail.”
McCaul and Mike Conaway introduced a resolution on Wednesday to put pressure on Russian officials to release Trevor and allow him to return home. The bipartisan resolution now heads to the House Committee of Foreign Affairs, where McCaul is a ranking member.
“I hope this sends a strong message to the Putin regime that America will not stand idly by as Putin and his cronies hold US citizens,” said McCaul.
Paula also says it’s time her son comes home.
“We have no part in the dispute between the United States and Russia, and I badly need my son Trevor to be back home in Texas,” she said.
