“A weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my wife’s, and I’m happy to be able to come home and be with my son again,” Tyler Wenrich said after his sentencing.
Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force
Tyler Wenrich
Tyler Wenrich, a 911 operator and emergency medical technician from Virginia who was arrested after bringing hunting ammunition to Turks and Caicos in April, he can now return home.
According to ABC news, NBC NewsIt is CNN, on Tuesday, May 28, Wenrich, 31, was fined $9.00 and sentenced to time served after three weeks in prison. The sentencing came days after Wenrich pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing ammunition for two 9mm rounds on May 21.
Wenrich received a shorter sentence than the mandatory minimum of 12 years after Judge Davidson Baptiste “cited exceptional circumstances” in his case, the Turks and Caicos Islands government said in a statement, according to ABC News.
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Aerial photo of Turks and Caicos
Related: Another American arrested in Turks and Caicos for allegedly having ammunition faces 12 years
Baptiste added that “application of the mandatory minimum would have been arbitrary and disproportionate and would not serve the public interest,” ABC News and CNN reported.
PEOPLE has reached out to the Turks and Caicos Islands government for comment.
Wenrich previously said he forgot he had the ammunition in his possession while traveling to Turks and Caicos on a cruise ship for a bachelor party, according to ABC News.
After the sentencing, the father of an 18-month-old son told reporters outside court that he was “relieved.”
“A weight has been lifted off my shoulders and my wife’s, and I’m happy to be able to come home and be with my son again,” Wenrich said, per NBC News.
Speaking to reporters, Wenrich described the court appearance as “emotional.”
“Very emotional, because it’s ups and downs because he goes through everything. You don’t know if it’s going one way or the other as he reads it all, so, so crying every time I hear ’18 month old,’ and now I’m relieved with the result,” he said, according to NBC News .
Wenrich’s sentence comes days later the release of Bryan Hagerich, a father of two who was arrested in Turks and Caicos in February after hunting ammunition was found in his checked luggage while returning home from a family vacation. Hagerich received a 52-week suspended sentence and a $6,700 fine.
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Turks and Caicos stock image
Ryan Watson of Oklahoma, Sharitta Grier of Florida and Michael Lee Evans of Texas were also charged with similar ammunition charges in Turks and Caicos.
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While the three await sentencing, Watson and Grier remain in the Caribbean, and Evans has been allowed to leave due to a health issue, ABC News reports.
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