Minister Held on Suspicion of Passing Bogus Bill : Jailing: The Presbyterian cleric from San Clemente was arrested for assertedly paying a toll with a counterfeit $100 bill on the way to an orphanage in Baja California.

By all accounts, Ronald Shackelford is the last person one would expect to find languishing in a Tijuana jail.

Shackelford, a Presbyterian minister for 15 years and father of two children, “never jaywalks, has never gotten a traffic ticket,” said his wife, Mary Lou Shackelford. “This is a good man. I don’t think he has even played a bad round of golf in his life.”

As family and friends grow increasingly frustrated by what they call an innocent mistake, Shackelford spent his fourth night in a Mexican jail Tuesday for allegedly passing a counterfeit $100 bill while trying to pay a $1.75 toll charge.

“We’re all real tired and stressed out,” his wife said. “We feel like a hostage family. It’s a helpless feeling, but you just have to wait.”

Officials with the San Clemente Presbyterian Church, where Shackelford has been associate pastor for three years, have enlisted the help of Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad) and the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana to seek his release. A U.S. official said he hoped to have Shackelford released on bail within the next 72 hours.

Shackelford is the brother of former UCLA basketball star Lynn Shackelford.

Shackelford’s problems began Saturday morning when he and 22 church members were headed for the Welcome Home Orphanage located near the small town of Colonia Guerrera Vicente.

Church officials say Shackelford, 46, stopped at the first of a series of three toll booths along the Tijuana-Ensenada tollway and paid the toll with a $100 bill.

When he arrived at the second toll booth about 15 miles down the road, Mexican authorities questioned him about the apparently bogus bill, then detained him, allowing the rest of the party to continue traveling.

The church has hired a Mexican attorney to negotiate for Shackelford’s release. The pastor has been visited by fellow parishioners every day since his ordeal began.

Corey Melia, a youth pastor with the church, said Shackelford is disoriented and confused by his surroundings but is in generally good spirits.

“He’s fine,” Melia said. “He’s mentally and physically tired, but it’s awkward for him because he’s never been in this position before. I think he’s in a patient mode, waiting for justice.”

The main problem, say U.S. officials, is that the wheels of Mexican justice turn slowly.

“There hasn’t been a holdup as far as Mexican authorities are concerned,” said Glen Keiser, vice consul for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana. “Under the Mexican constitution, one is presumed guilty until proven innocent. They can hold him for up to nine days before charging him.”

Keiser described a meeting between Consulate General Paul Klein and the Mexican chief of federal judicial police on Tuesday as productive and said the chances are “very good” that Shackelford will be released within 72 hours.

“This case is a little unusual,” Keiser said. “He’s not your normal arrestee.”

Most of the church group, which was traveling in three vans, didn’t find out that Shackelford had been arrested until late Saturday night.

“We were shocked and dismayed,” said Donald Bare, a member of the San Clemente parish. “But we knew he was going to a jail where he was not going to be abused and that the consulate was doing everything it could.”

The church has helped construct buildings and donated food at the orphanage over the years.

Bare said he knows that many people in the community are angry over the irony of Shackelford being detained while on a charitable mission, but it won’t deter him from going back to the orphanage.

“I intend to go down again next week,” Bare said. “We’re unhappy that the wheels of justice go so slowly, but the need for Christian work down there is great. Most of us plan to be back at that orphanage.”