Articles

They survived ‘vacation from hell,' arrest in D.R. Now Florida brothers face more misery

Miami Herald / Jacqueline Charles & Kevin G. Hall / August 31, 2021

Three South Florida brothers trapped for a year in the Dominican Republic on the "vacation from hell" thought the nightmare finally ended when they were allowed to return home in July.

They were wrong.

Returning to Delray Beach, they learned of a problematic caveat in their release from a yearlong detention over what they call a concocted drug arrest in a country that spends millions to advertise and cater to American tourists.

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Born in Haiti and brought to the United States as young men after the devastating 2010 earthquake, the three Nalus brothers thought they'd be back in Florida until an actual court hearing in the Dominican Republic. They were partially released after a story in the Miami Herald chronicled their plight.

In a head-scratching twist, the brothers learned they must now return to the Caribbean nation by Sept. 2, to meet a byzantine requirement that they officially "check in" with a judge there in person.

Adding to their woes, their father, Calice Nalus, in late August contracted the coronavirus, putting them at risk for infection or spreading the virus to others. The Dominican Republic does not have travel restrictions, but the United States does, complicating their return.

While much of the world has embraced internet and phone technology that enables free video calls, not so in the Dominican Republic's judicial system it appears. For reasons unclear, the three Nalus brothers cannot just drive 90 minutes to the Dominican consulate in Miami to check in. They must show up in person before the judge.

"We could just call them," said John, 21, who has seen a college soccer scholarship to Auburn University at Montgomery, Alabama, put on hold for a second consecutive year following his arrest in the Dominican Republic in August 2020. "It's just a lot, but I guess we've got to do what we've got to do."

The cost for three round-trip tickets over Labor Day weekend is about $1,200, a huge sum for young men of humble origins who have been unable to work for the past year while they've been in legal limbo in the Dominican Republic.

"Why pay all that money to do something we can sit here and do?" asked John.

The three brothers took a vacation in late July 2020 in the Dominican Republic to visit a fourth brother who temporarily moved there to escape violence in Haiti. All were arrested on Aug. 2 after their rental car broke down and some strangers offered to help and were videotaped appearing to plant a small four-pound package of marijuana in the car.

The Nalus brothers, two of whom are green card holders in the process of becoming naturalized U.S. citizens while a third is a U.S. citizen, then faced a year of provisional detention, their passports seized, rendering them unable to leave the Dominican Republic. Advocates for the men say they have received scant support from consular officials at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo or their congressional representatives.

"The family has a video that the boys shot of their encounter with a Dominican drug gang that wanted to extort them and it shows the gang placing drugs under their car. It shows the police arriving after one of the boys called them," said Eric Lebson, a volunteer advocate for Americans wrongfully detained abroad, who is helping the Nalus brothers. "The police report makes no mention of the drug gang even though they are the only people the police interviewed at the scene."

The case has dragged on for a year with little movement or investigation. On several occasions, prosecutors did not show for scheduled court dates.

"Instead, the Dominican Republican government has ruined the lives of these young men for over a year," said Lebson. "Is this how this tourism-dependent country wants to encourage tourism?"

After seeing their story in the Herald, Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Florida, sought to help them even though they are not in her district.

"It is extremely unfair to expect them to shoulder the cost of frequent travel to the Dominican Republic in light of how much they've already lost, including jobs; repossessed cars, canceled health insurance; substantial damage to their visa status, a lost college scholarship, and significant family debt incurred by legal fees," Wilson said when informed of the new demand of monthly returns to the island. "While it is law in the Dominican Republic to appear in court in person, COVID transmission concerns is also a reason to hold hearings virtually."

Wilson said she has spoken with State Department officials and personally reached out to the Dominican ambassador to the United States, Sonia Guzman, who promised to get them a public defender.

"She also agreed to facilitate a call between their current attorney and me, which I hope will happen within the next few days," Wilson said, calling on the U.S. government to do more. "I am committed to doing all that I can to help these young men and will continue to press the State Department to do everything in its power to clear their names. The agency needs to step up its efforts to assist these Americans who were framed and jailed based on testimony from bandits. It needs to do more to help these U.S. citizens."

The lives of the brothers remain in limbo. Lonelson, 26, has been able to find work in Orlando and Lovensky, 27, just started a new job but has not told his new employer that he has to leave for the Dominican Republic in early September and might have to do so every month until his case is resolved.

"I can't just start and tell them I can't make it today and call out. You know how work goes," said Lovensky, who supports the family and his bubbly 4-year-old daughter, Chrislove Nalus.

The brothers already pool resources to help their father, now sick with the coronavirus, pay the bills on the small home they all share. They also support their mother who is back in Haiti.

It wasn't supposed to be like this.

"When they came home, we thought that was it until there was a hearing [in the Dominican Republic]. But the embassy gave me a call, the embassy rep, and said they had to come every month for the check in — that part of the order still stood," said Randy Kurtz, a friend of the family who has stepped in to help set up a Go Fund Me account for the young men and helps them take care of airfare and expensive legal representation during their yearlong ordeal. It has raised more than $28,000, used for their defense and support while forced to live in the Dominican Republic for nearly a year.

"I get a lot of questions from friends who say, ‘What if they just don't go back?' But that could have serious consequences," she said, noting the men have green cards but a conviction abroad could sink their naturalization process.

The State Department said earlier about the Nalus brothers that its consular officials have little power over other nations' laws. But Kurtz and other supporters of the Nalus brothers find it hard to understand how diplomats can get Americans out of hostile places like North Korea but cannot advocate for resolution in friendly places like the Dominican Republic.

State Department officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the status of their case.

"It's very frustrating," she said, joking she has become a travel agent for the brothers.