Thursday, April 18, 2024
A former United States Marine from Hood County was sentenced Thursday to nine years in a Russian prison on what he and his family believe are trumped-up charges brought in hopes of a prisoner exchange.
Paula Reed, the mother of Trevor R. Reed, told the HCN late Thursday that the verdict will be appealed.
Paula said that her husband Joey will remain in Russia for the time being to continue to fight for their son’s release. She said that Joey, a retired fire chief, has been in Russia since September of last year except for three weeks in January when he made a trip home.
Trevor Reed, 29, was arrested in Moscow in Au gust of last year and charged with assaulting and endangering the lives of two police officers.
Reed’s 22-year-old Russian girlfriend, Alina V. Tsybulnik, has disputed the officers’ claims about what happened after Reed became drunk after consuming vodka at a party.
Reed had spent the summer with Tsybulnik and attended the party with her in a park outside Moscow one week before he was to head home.
He reportedly drank more than 23 ounces of vodka.
While he and Tsybulnik were being driven home by friends, Reed became agitated and asked the driver to stop the car. He exited the vehicle and began running near a busy highway, shouting incoherently.
Tsybulnik, worried for his safety, called the police.
Responding officers drove Reed to the police station and told Tsybulnik to come get him the next morning, according to trial reports.
Tsybulnik, who is a lawyer, said that when she arrived the next day, she saw that Reed had been beaten.
A short time later, officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) arrived and interviewed Reed without an interpreter or lawyer present, according to news reports of the case.
Reed had several forms of identification confirming that he is a former member of the United States military.
He testified that he had no memory of the incident and that the FSB agents asked only about his military service.
The officers testified that during the drive to the police station, Reed grabbed the driver’s arm, causing the car to swerve in the opposite lane.
Tsybulnik, who was following with the friends who had been driving them home, disputed that claim.
Video footage presented in court did not appear to show the car swerve, according to an article in The New York Times.
After Reed was sentenced Thursday, John J. Sullivan, the U.S. ambassador to Russia, issued a statement calling the sentencing the “theater of the absurd.”
The case has been compared to that of another former Marine, Paul Whelan, who in June was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian prison on espionage charges.
The New York Times article quoted Whelan’s attorney saying that the arrests of Americans in Russia is in retaliation for the apprehension of Russian citizens in the United States.
Paula Reed, who said she moved to Hood County with her husband seven or eight years ago, said that her son was taking classes at the University of North Texas before he went to Russia to spend last summer with his girlfriend, who has spent three summers with the Reed family in Granbury.
She said that Tsybulnik has been a lot of help to Joey during their son’s detention and trial.
“She’s awesome,” Paula said. “She’s a wonderful, wonderful girl. We love her like a daughter.”
Information about the case and ongoing developments can be found at www.freetrevorreed.com. The “Help Trevor” tab contains sample letters for supporters to send to elected officials.
There is also a “Free Trevor Reed” Gofundme page. By late Thursday afternoon, $17,645 had been raised to help defray the family’s legal expenses.
kcruz@hcnews.com | 817-573-7066, ext. 258
