An Oklahoma man credited his faith with helping his family get through a “concerning” situation in Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), where he faced 12 years in prison when four stray bullets were found in his luggage, he told “Fox and Friends” after returning home.

Ryan Watson, 40, from Edmond, was arrested in April at the country’s main airport and was detained after he accidentally left the ammunition inside his carry-on bag. 

After months of negotiations, which involved a bipartisan congressional delegation flying to Turks and Caicos in May, Watson received a suspended 13-week jail sentence and a fine of $2,000 – or $500 per bullet – on Friday, according to family spokesman Jonathan Franks.

TURKS AND CAICOS BACKTRACKS ON AMMUNITION LAW THAT LANDED AMERICAN TOURISTS BEHIND BARS

Watson and his wife Valerie appeared on “Fox and Friends” Tuesday, when they praised their faith and local lawmakers for helping to get him home.

“Our faith is so strong, I don’t know if we would have made it through any other way,” Valerie said. “I mean the Lord definitely carried us through, and we saw him working in every single aspect, from the very beginning of this entire thing.”

The couple said Oklahoma Sens. Markwayne Mullin and James Lankford, along with Gov. Kevin Stitt, were instrumental in securing Ryan’s release and return. 

“They all worked around the clock that very first weekend, and they didn’t stop until Ryan set foot back in Oklahoma,” Valerie said. “So they worked really hard for us. And, you know, Senator Mullin put together the congregational delegation and it was really effective. I think it put a lot of pressure on TCI to kind of rethink some of the ways that they were handling things down there on the island.”

Watson said he had taken the bag on a hunting trip to Texas last fall but does not recall ever putting the bullets in the bag. He said the bullets were found underneath a lining in his bag.

“I didn’t realize it, but that duffel bag has a lining, zips out, and they somehow managed to get underneath that lining,” Watson said. He did not have a gun on him and previously told Fox News Digital he had no intention of bringing ammunition on his vacation.

The island nation has strict rules and stiff penalties for those carrying ammunition. There is no constitutional right to carry firearms in Turks and Caicos, and the law prohibits anyone from keeping, carrying, discharging or using an unlicensed firearm or ammunition. 

AMERICANS ARRESTED IN TURKS AND CAICOS BUNK, PRAY TOGETHER WHILE AWAITING SENTENCINGS: ‘A BIG FAMILY’

Watson said it was frightening to think he was facing 12 years in prison.

“None of it made sense….. it got real concerning real quick,” he told “Fox and Friends.”

He also thanked his faith when speaking to reporters on Friday.

“This is such an answered prayer… I’ve prayed for this for 70 days now,” Watson said. “To see God working this way, it’s pretty incredible.” 

Ryan told “Fox and Friends” Tuesday that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) later admitted it failed to spot the bullets on his way out of the U.S. Watson criticized the U.S. Embassy in Turks and Caicos and said that it did not help him.

From left to right, Valerie Watson stands next to her husband, Ryan Watson, who holds his passport as he poses with his mom, Susan Fendley, and stepfather, Terry Fendley, in Turks and Caicos on Friday, June 21, 2024. Ryan Watson was detained for possessing ammunition in the island nation. (Jonathan Franks/LUCID Strategies)

“They did nothing… and it really revealed to me that there are probably many other families that are affected abroad that are not receiving any aid or care from the State Department, as we speak.”

A State Department spokesperson previously told Fox News Digital that the State Department, as well as U.S. embassies and consulates abroad, make the safety and security of U.S. citizens overseas their highest priority.

Whenever a U.S. citizen is detained in a foreign country, the State Department seeks immediate access to visit that person, the spokesperson said.

When a U.S. citizen is arrested overseas, the State Department stands ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance, the spokesperson said, adding that U.S. citizens are typically subject to a foreign country’s laws when they travel there, even if those laws differ from those in the U.S. 

Due to privacy considerations, the State Department did not provide further comment on the Americans recently arrested in Turks and Caicos.

After the sentencing, the judge urged American travelers bound for Turks and Caicos to double-check their bags and asked the TSA to screen outgoing travelers.

Watson is one of at least five Americans arrested this year who were arrested for violating Turks and Caicos’ ammunition law.

The country’s parliament agreed unanimously this month to revise the new ordinance after “a great deal of flacking” from American lawmakers, the country’s Newsline TCI reported.

“This legislative change is a critical step in ensuring our legal system is both just and flexible,” the parliament’s opposition leader Edwin Astwood told The Sun TCI, another local paper. “It acknowledges that not all cases are alike and that our judges must have the ability to consider all factors and impose sentences that are truly just and appropriate.”

He said the goal is to uphold the rule of law — but also to differentiate between genuine threats and people who make a mistake.

Five Americans have been arrested in Turks and Caicos since February for carrying ammo in airports on the island. From left to right: Michael Lee Evans (no photo), Bryan Hagerich, Tyler Wenrich, Ryan Watson and Sharitta Grier. (Turks and Caicos Police/ Dimitrios Kambouris )

The other Americans charged under the ordinance include Bryan Hagerich, a 39-year-old Pennsylvania father of two and former professional baseball player, who came home after more than 100 days in jail after the court agreed to fine him $6,500 and avoid prison.

Texas’ Michael Lee Evans, 72, pleaded guilty to possessing seven rounds of ammunition, according to The Sun TCI. He was still awaiting sentencing but had been allowed to return to the U.S. due to a serious illness, according to authorities.

Virginia’s Tyler Wenrich was freed in May after paying a $10,000 fine. Sharitta Grier, of Florida, is also awaiting her sentencing.

Fox News’ Audrey Conklin and Michael Ruiz contributed to this report.

Two suspects who led police on a lengthy pursuit through Orange and Los Angeles counties Wednesday are believed to be connected to a follow-home robbery in Rancho Cucamonga.

The male victim, who did not wish to be identified, visited a Chase bank on Tuesday and withdrew around $2,000 in cash from the ATM for a birthday party.

He drove to his parents’ Rancho Cucamonga home and entered the house, leaving the cash inside his car.

That’s when he suddenly heard his car alarm go off. 

“He said, ‘As soon as I sat down [inside the home], I heard the alarm go off,’” the victim’s mother recalled. “He said, ‘My car was broken into! I ran out and saw no one was close to my car.’”

A nearby home doorbell camera captured the suspects’ white SUV speeding away before the victim could catch them.

“In looking at home video surveillance, they were able to piece together what had happened and they spotted a white SUV which happened to be the Audi,” explained Maria Rodriguez a spokesperson from the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department. 

Around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, Costa Mesa police officers spotted the white Audi SUV with license plates that had been stolen in Riverside. 

The suspects refused to pull over and led officers on a lengthy pursuit. They reached speeds of over 100 miles per hour while dangerously weaving through freeway traffic and surface streets.

Rancho Cucamonga officers noticed the SUV and immediately contacted Costa Mesa police, alerting them the car may be the same vehicle used in the follow-home theft. 

“Sure enough, it was determined that, yes, it was the car we had seen from [Rancho Cucamonga’s] case the day prior,” Rodriguez said.

At one point during the chase, the driver pulled over, stepped out and surrendered to police. However, the passenger suddenly jumped into the driver’s seat and sped off, continuing the chase.

The car was later abandoned in Hawthorne and was located by police. The suspect, however, was nowhere to be found.

The victims said they’re glad one suspect was caught, but are hoping the second suspect is located soon before another person is victimized.

“We were fortunate because no one was hurt,” said the victim’s mother. “But the money was gone and it was not a happy day for all of us.”

Crime technicians are investigating the SUV hoping to find evidence that will lead detectives to the suspect at large.

Anyone with information on the incident can call Rancho Cucamonga police at 909-941-1488.

A Houston area still reeling over the death of 12-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray has become a hot spot for both legal and illegal immigrants.

Almost a quarter of the nine-county Houston metro area is comprised of immigrants, many of whom have yet to gain legal status in the United States, according to a report by the Migration Policy Institute.

The report, which was released in November, highlights how the Houston region has experienced “significant immigration-related transformations” in recent years, which it notes is in part a result of the “spillover effects of the record high number of asylum seekers and other migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border since 2021.”

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“The metro area has welcomed large numbers of humanitarian migrants and Harris County is the top U.S. destination for unaccompanied children released to sponsors,” the report reads.

Despite its location away from the southern border, the percentage of immigrants comprising the Houston population far outstrips the total Texas share, which sits at 17%. The national share of the immigrant population, meanwhile, sits at 13.6%.

The report estimates that roughly two-thirds of the Houston area’s nearly 1.7 million immigrant population has some form of legal status, while hundreds of thousands face barriers to naturalization in the United States.

Data revealed that Mexico remained the top origin country for immigrants in the Houston area, comprising about 37% of the foreign-born population. But other nationalities comprise a growing share, with immigrants from Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Venezuela, China and Colombia more recently joining the top 10.

JOCELYN NUNGARAY MURDER SUSPECT HAS BAIL SET AT $10 MILLION 

The population of illegal immigrants in the area entered the spotlight last week when two illegal immigrants from Venezuela were charged in the murder of Nungaray.

Franklin Jose Peña Ramos, 26, made his first appearance in court Monday in the case, while 22-year-old co-defendant Johan Jose Martinez-Rangel is scheduled to make his first appearance Tuesday.

The men, who entered the country illegally before making their way to the Houston area, are accused of luring the 12-year-old Nungaray under a secluded bridge, where she was tied up and later killed.

Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg, who is prosecuting the case, told Fox News Tuesday that it is also “likely” that a “sexual assault happened” in addition to the murder.

Jocelyn Nungaray, 12, was found strangled to death in a Houston creek. (Fox Houston courtesy of the Nungaray family)

“The evidence is clear that a sexual assault likely happened. But since neither defendant has actually admitted that, circumstantial evidence will have to prove it,” Ogg said. “We are waiting on lab tests now to see if the capital murder charge can be upgraded to one where they are death penalty eligible.” 

Meanwhile, new details emerged out of Monday’s court proceedings, including revelations that Ramos was wearing a Customs and Border Protection ankle monitor at the time of the crime. Martinez-Rangel had worn a similar monitor, though he was able to remove his after complying with immigration check-ins.

Meanwhile, Ogg described the Houston area as a “huge international hub.”

“Unfortunately, we see a great deal of violence committed by illegal immigrants and we see as many victimized by other illegals and regular people here. It’s an enormous problem. This was bound to happen,” she told Fox News. “It’s one of those things that, as an elected prosecutor, you are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I’m just sick and sickened this little girl was the innocent victim of these two monsters.”