McClung Critical of U.S. Consul in Mexico

Ship captain Scott McClung on Thursday leveled harsh criticism against U.S. and Mexican officials for his lengthy detention in Cozumel and said he intends to go to Mexico next week to participate in an investigation of a prosecutor who allegedly sought a $10,000 bribe.

McClung, the 36-year-old skipper charged with violating Mexican weapons laws, said in a news conference in Irvine that the U.S. Consulate’s office in Merida, Yucatan, was urged to help him but that little was done in the case.

When McClung was ordered to stand trial by a Mexican judge, the consul was at the hearing but did not respond to pleas for help by McClung and his attorney.

But U.S. State Department officials in Mexico City and Washington said McClung misunderstands the role of consular officers in foreign countries. They said officials cannot provide legal representation for Americans.

“We are prohibited from acting as a legal representative of the detainee,” one official said in Washington. “That means we’re prohibited from paying his fine, or bailing him out, or adjudicating the person’s guilt or innocence.”

Another State Department official said the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City worked behind the scenes for McClung through diplomats and other officials and added that McClung was lucky to have gotten out.

William Bollard, McClung’s attorney, said his client was thankful for the help but wanted to express his displeasure with the consul’s office and prosecutor Claudio Sanchez.

McClung said he was pointing a finger at “a few bad eggs” in Mexico and not “the Mexican government as a whole.”

“I feel blessed at the amount of attention that I got,” McClung said. “I think it helped get me out of there as quickly as it did. I do feel some responsibility to do as much as I can as a person to cooperate with the investigation.”

McClung, his father, Eugene, 71, and first mate Noah Bailey, 31, were arrested Aug. 10 by Mexican officials in Cozumel after two AR-15 semiautomatic weapons and three shotguns were found on his $4.5-million boat, the Rapture.

The McClungs said they declared the weapons immediately after they were boarded by Mexican authorities. Eugene McClung and Bailey were released after nine days in custody, but Scott McClung was ordered to stand trial.

McClung argued that he had the weapons as protection against pirates in the Caribbean.

He was detained in a clinic after collapsing in court. A judge ordered him released two weeks ago.

His arrest and detention became an international controversy after McClung’s lawyers accused Sanchez of seeking a $10,000 bribe. Sanchez has denied the allegations.