Lindsey Hull shared to Facebook on Monday, March 24, her parents’ experience of “being held captive” at a maximum-security prison in Cancun, Mexico. She wrote that her parents are held without bail.
She claims that her mother, Christy Akeo, and stepfather, Paul Akeo, a 1984 Yelm High School graduate, have been “held captive” over the last 21 days for “simply challenging wrongful credit card charges made by The Palace Company.”
The Palace Company offers exclusive hotel stays, resort visits and vacation clubs around the world, according to its website.
Hull wrote that the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Consulate, FBI, U.S. Department of State, U.S. Senate, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s office, Sen. Gary Peters, Sen. Elissa Slotkin, Michigan State Police, NBC News and Fox News have all been contacted in regards to her parents’ imprisonment in Mexico. She added that her stepfather, Paul, served in the United States Navy for 21 years, including as chief petty officer.
“American Express sided with my mom and Paul as a response to these wrongful charges. The last 21 days of torture my parents have been through is a direct response of The Palace Company’s corruption, extortion, retaliation and blackmail against our parents,” Hull wrote online. “The Palace Company is demanding $250,000, the signing of an (non-disclosure agreement) that does not even guarantee their release, as well as a Facebook post made by our parents to be left up for one week claiming all responsibility and fault for the torture they have endured throughout the last three weeks. If that’s not enough, they also demanded a public apology from my mom and Paul to be made to The Palace Company. Absolutely sickening.”
She added that her mom and stepfather are being denied medical attention and proper communication and are being publicly defamed. She claims despite asking to speak to Paul numerous times throughout his 21-day imprisonment, there has yet to be any communication with him.
In her Facebook post, Hull claims her mother has lost 25 pounds throughout her imprisonment as “the prison is serving her food they are aware she is allergic to.” Hull added Christy has a severe rash all over her body, and that treatment isn’t being offered.
“These are all concerns that have been brought up numerous times to the US Consulate over the last 3 weeks, yet they failed to have any sort of visit with my parents until 17 DAYS into their imprisonment,” Hull wrote. “In other words, the US Consulate and the US Embassy have been nothing short of useless.”
Republican Congressman Tom Barrett, of Michigan, wrote at 2:46 p.m. on X (formerly known as Twitter) that he was made aware of the situation involving Paul and Christy Akeo.
“I have spoken to their family and assured them that my team and I took immediate action and are doing everything we can to help,” Barrett wrote on X. “I have been in contact and will continue working with the White House, State Department and law enforcement partners in Michigan to ensure this situation is resolved as urgently and safely as possible.”
Hull says “thousands upon thousands” of dollars have been spent toward Mexican legal representation, adding it only goes so far while “dealing with this level of corruption and extortion.”
“We have also met prior demands given to us by The Palace Company and yet they have had no serious response to letting our parents free,” Hull wrote. “This includes forcing my brother and I to remove a private Facebook group of 8,000 members, who came together as a community to share grievances and receive advice on how to deal with the stronghold tactics and manipulation that Palace Resorts enforces. By forcing us to remove this group, which we did not own or create, they silenced thousands of Palace Resorts members who were simply sharing their truth of how awful and actually harmful it is to be a Palace Resort Member.”
