(WSVN) - CHICAGO (WSVN) – A South Florida resident who had been held in Abu Dhabi against his will for the last nine weeks is finally home.
Matthew Gonzales, an American who was visiting the Middle East, landed at O’Hare Chicago International Airport Friday afternoon, where he was greeted by his sister, Nicole Denil, along with a sense of relief.
Gonzales said he had no idea he was about to be released. He said he was sitting in his jail cell on Thursday when guards came in and put shackles on him but wouldn’t tell him where he was going.
The next thing he knew, Gonzales said, he was at the airport.
Gonzales said the feeling of being free is incredible, and he took the opportunity to thank his sister. “I got put on the plane in shackles and handcuffs, and I just got off to this, so it’s surreal, overwhelming,” he said.
“A dream come true to have you back,” said Denil shortly after embracing her brother.
Gonzales had been behind bars for more than two months for bringing his prescribed painkillers into the country without documentation for a work trip back in April. He said he was just passing through Abu Dhabi when he was detained.
“You’re guilty until proven innocent. It’s not a play on words. It’s literally the truth there,” he said.
Gonzales was sentenced to two years in prison.
Denil had been traveling back and forth from her Coconut Grove home to Abu Dhabi, covering herself from head to toe and hiring lawyers, to try and free her brother. “Totally scary,” she said. “Every time I go in, I think maybe I’m going to get detained for something, too.”
“If it weren’t for my sister spending what I would consider to be an actual fortune in my defense, I would probably still be there,” said Gonzales.
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Denil even brought her brother’s prescription to a judge in Abu Dhabi and proved the pills were for his dislocated shoulder, but the laws are strict and say people “…should not bring narcotic medicines into the country without the prior approval from the Ministry of Health.”
Gonzales was awaiting an appeal date in July, and he and his sister don’t know why he was suddenly released. “You don’t find anything out in that prison. You have phone calls twice a week, get 10-minute calls,” he said, “but you just find out when you get taken.”
Thursday morning, Gonzales’ family said they finally got the call they had been waiting for from the embassy of Abu Dhabi. “I got contacted by the embassy that he was leaving, which was amazing,” said Denil. “They said, ‘Yes, he is in the deportation facility, and he’ll be on a plane today,'” said Denil.
7News spoke with Denil, Friday morning, as she headed to O’Hare to pick up her brother. “I am absolutely ecstatic,” she said. “I feel like I wanna pinch myself. It was, you know, a surprise.”
“I got a two-year sentence I didn’t know for three days until I talked to her,” said Gonzales.
The timing of Gonzales’ release is significant. His family had hoped to have him home by Saturday for his mother’s funeral in Milwaukee.
“It’s a miracle that he’s gonna be here for that,” said Denil. “One day he’s arriving, one day before the memorial.”
“I’ve been in prison trying to wrap my head around the fact I am not going to be able to bury my mother for a while now,” said Gonzales, “so this is a good day.”
Denil spent nearly $100,000 on legal fees and trips back and forth to the Arab country.
Gonzales will attend his mother’s funeral in Wisconsin, and then on Sunday there will be a fundraiser in his hometown of Milwaukee to help pay off the legal fees. He and his family will then return to Miami.
Gonzales said he suspects it was a combination of his sister’s determination, the media attention and senators becoming involved that finally led to him being freed.
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