A Michigan couple has been detained for weeks in Mexico after what their attorney described as a disagreement over their timeshare in Cancun.
Christy Akeo, 60, and Paul Akeo, 58, residing in Spring Arbor, Michigan, have been imprisoned in a Cereso facility in Cancun for over three weeks after traveling there for vacation earlier this month, according to their daughter and attorney who informed Fox News Digital.
Lindsey Lemke Hull, Christy Akeo’s daughter, expressed to Fox News Digital the dire conditions her mother faces in prison, stating, “She doesn’t have anything. You don’t even get toilet paper in these places. So, it’s just a very, very scary environment, from what she explained. I think she tends to keep a lot from my brother and I when we talk to her, just out of protection. … We are fearful for her … life, Paul’s life, just because we don’t know what’s going to happen to them at any given time.”
Aerial panoramic view of Cancun hotels along a beach. (iStock)
The Akeos’ daughter, Lemke Hull, who is a two-time national champion gymnast recognized for her role in exposing former Olympic team doctor Larry Nassar’s sexual abuse, declined to pay for their release as requested by her parents.
The Palace Company also offered to pay the Akeos a nominal sum in exchange for an agreement that they would not publish negative social media posts about Palace Elite Resorts, according to a copy of the proposed agreement shared with Fox News Digital.Â
The proposed non-disparagement agreement states that the Akeos “shall refrain from making or publishing, in writing or verbally … any disparaging, derogatory, or negative comments about PALACE ELITE RESORTS, S.A. DE C.V., together with its ownership … in or on websites, interviews, press releases, news releases, media releases, press statements or video releases, articles, commentaries, written, audio or visual (e.g., YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X, Threads, or the like, advertising or marketing materials, blogs, chat-rooms, etc.).”
Aerial view of an almost empty beach in Cancun, Quintana Roo state, Mexico, on March 28, 2020. (ELIZABETH RUIZ/AFP via Getty Images)
In 2023, Christy joined the “Palace Resorts Members – Disappointed & Frustrated – Discuss & Take Action,” which had about 8,000 users, in which Palace members discuss their grievances with the resort company. Christy then became a moderator of the group.
The non-disparagement agreement, which the Akeos did not sign, requests that the Akeos each “expressly acknowledge that the Disparaging Statements have damaged, and continue to damage, Palace Elite causing damages in excess of SEVEN MILLION U.S. Dollars ($7,000,000.00).”
An INTERPOL Red Notice was issued to facilitate the couple’s arrest. A Mexico judge has ruled that the case will proceed to trial, according to both the Akeos and the Palace Company. The Akeos will remain in custody until then.
