Former Welches resident Troy Bachmann, 48, has been held in the notorious
Venustiano Carranza Prison in Tepic, Mexico since May 19, and is scheduled
for trial in a Mexican court Oct. 12.

He is being charged for allegedly owing money to watermelon farmers, a
charge he denies. If he is convicted, he faces up to 84 years in prison,
according to his brother, Derek Bachmann, of Seattle.

Troy is the son of Mark Bachmann, who owns the Fly Fishing Shop in Welches.
In the meantime, Troy languishes in the dangerous and overcrowded prison
where he is the only Caucasian among more than 3,000 inmates crammed
into a facility built for 650. He is housed in a 5 foot by 10 foot cell with seven
other inmates, a single toilet, no beds, and blankets, safe drinking water and
food are available only for sale.

“We’re also paying $1,500 a month so he can have edible food,” Derek told
The Packer reporter Coral Beach, who writes for the fruit and vegetable
industry weekly newspaper. “He has to pay for everything in prison. If he
wants to go to the bathroom he has to pay. If he wants to wipe, he has to pay
again.”

Derek believes the problem began for his brother when he hired a new
bookkeeper for his fruit and vegetable business in Jalisco, Mexico – Fancy
Fresh Farms – and started noticing discrepancies in the accounting. An
independent audit confirmed his suspicions, but he didn’t have time to deal
with it before leaving on a business trip.

While he was gone the bookkeeper and several other employees raided the
company’s checking accounts, wiped his computer hard drives, and planted
rumors with Troy’s growers that he was planning to leave the country without
paying them. When Troy returned he agreed to meet with some of them to
straighten out the misunderstanding, according to Derek.

He was immediately surrounded by police and arrested without a warrant,
explanation or reading him his rights.

He was hauled away.

“Apparently whoever grabbed him didn’t want anyone knowing he was there,
because by law he is supposed to be allowed to call the U.S. Consulate within
24 hours,” Derek said. “Troy also wasn’t told what he was being charged with
for I don’t know how long.”

When appeals to the American Consulate and Oregon Senator Ron Wyden led
nowhere, Mark Bachmann took money from his personal retirement account
to pay for a Mexico City private investigator to give him an independent
assessment of the problem and what it would take to fix it. As a result, Troy
now has a highly respected attorney to spearhead his legal defense.

Finally, the U.S. Consulate was contacted and has provided some assistance.
“We’ve visited him on a number of occasions,” the consulate’s public
information officer – who requested her name not be used – told the reporter
at The Packer. “We also watch for human rights violations. But we cannot
provide legal assistance or advice. It is our understanding that he has secured
a local attorney and we are actively monitoring the case.”

The attorney is handling the case pro bono, but the family must pay
expenses, including $4,000 for forensic experts to try to recover information
from two computer hard drives and another $4,000 for an interpreter and for
translation of legal documents, according to Derek Bachmann.

Since the incarceration, Troy’s produce business has been destroyed, his
home taken under duress, his wife and 9-month-old child are back in the U.S.
having been threatened, and Derek has lost his job as an SEO and Internet
marketing specialist for taking calls from Troy and Sen. Wyden during
business hours.

Wyden’s office ultimately weighed in with a Sept. 17 letter to Dr. Miguel
Ebegenyi, Ambassador to Mexico, urging him to intervene in the matter.
Human Rights Watch, in New York City, whose mission is to protect human
rights of people around the world, has had Venustiano Carranza Prison on its

list for many years, writing on its website: “Prison conditions are
unspeakable.”

Funds are critically needed to help pay for Troy’s mounting legal bills and
prison expenses, while the family works on raising public support to put
pressure on the Mexican government to release him back to the U.S.
The public can help through accounts that have been set up at PayPal,
Fundly.com/friends-of-troy, and the U.S. Bank: Friends of Troy Account No.
153567494536.

Troy is remaining positive and hopeful, Derek noted, and added that his family
is struggling to do the same.