McClung Awaiting Paperwork Granting His Freedom

Scott McClung, the Newport Beach yachtsman whose vessel’s maiden voyage from Florida to Southern California turned into a tense international intrigue, was on the verge of being freed here Thursday, five weeks after he was arrested for carrying guns aboard.

His expected release marked an anguished day of rising and falling emotions as the sailor, his family and supporters waited for a federal judge in Cancun to consider the prosecutor’s written request to drop charges that could have meant a five- to 30-year prison sentence for McClung.

“It looks like a go, but we are not going to be doing any celebrating until we get the release papers,” said McClung, 36, looking pale and with dark rings under his eyes as he sat in the private clinic where he’s been held under armed guard while being treated for a stress-related illness.

If Judge Alfredo Torres grants freedom, McClung still can’t walk out the clinic door until a court order is delivered to another judge in Cozumel, who must then inform local, state and federal authorities.

Still, as the anxious day wore on, McClung’s family finally became confident enough to arrange a flight to take him from confinement back to his boat, which the crew has sailed from Cozumel to Costa Rica.

“Even after I walk out the door here,” he said, “and I have had a chance to have dinner with all my friends here--the doctors, the attorneys, everybody--and I get on a plane and then get on the ship, it’s going to be a few days before I realize that I’m free.”

McClung’s father, Eugene, said there have been many sleepless nights when he worried that his son might never see home again.

“The wait, it’s been the long wait,” said the elder McClung, adding that although many people in Mexico and the United States have “stepped up to the plate to help,” it has taken an agonizingly long time for the wheels of justice to turn.

Scott McClung, his father and the ship’s first mate, Noah Bailey, were arrested in Cozumel on Aug. 10 and charged with violating Mexico’s strict weapons laws when officials found two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles and three shotguns aboard the $4.5-million, 145-foot vessel the Rapture. Other crew members were not taken into custody.

It was the boat’s maiden voyage.

The skipper gives seagoing religious missions and the chance to conduct oceanographic research to high school students.

Father and son have said they had guns because the U.S. Coast Guard in Florida warned them of pirates who assault private boats sailing the Caribbean.

They claimed they declared the weapons when they detoured to Cozumel with mechanical problems, but Mexican officials claimed the guns were brought in illegally.

Lawyers for McClung have alleged that prosecutor Claudio Sanchez sought a $10,000 bribe to release the skipper. Sanchez has said that he cannot comment on the case.

McClung’s attorney, William Bollard of Irvine, said the Mexican government decided to drop the charges because the Mexican attorney general’s office conducted an investigation and found “many irregularities” in McClung’s arrest and other irregularities not directly connected to the case but related to the prosecutor.

He also said McClung received support from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and support from friends in Southern California.

Bollard said numerous local Mexican officials and residents have told him confidentially they’re embarrassed by the prosecutor’s zealous actions, calling it a “complete injustice,” and asking how they can help.

“Even though local newspapers first told of the arrests of the McClungs as being tied to narcotraficantes [drug traffickers] they have changed their tack and have been supportive of Scott,” Bollard said.