PORTLAND — A U.S. woman has been detained for two months in East Timor after apparently getting in the wrong vehicle at the wrong time, and two senators say partisan gridlock has complicated efforts to free her.
Stacey Addison, 41, of Portland was arrested shortly after crossing the border into the Southeast Asia nation. She was sharing a taxi with a stranger who asked the driver to stop the car so he could pick up a package. Police stopped the vehicle, determined the package contained methamphetamine and took everybody to the station.
Addison was released from jail after a few days, but was ordered to remain in East Timor during the investigation. Her passport was confiscated and she stayed in a hostel.
Her travel nightmare worsened last week when a prosecutor persuaded a court to rescind Addison’s conditional release. The Portland veterinarian is now stuck in a women’s prison, even though she has not been charged with a crime.
“We just don’t know what’s going on,” said her mother, Bernadette Kero of Klamath Falls, Ore.
Sens. Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley of Oregon have been working to get Addison out of the country. They say the effort has been hindered by the lack of a U.S. ambassador to East Timor. Karen Stanton has yet to be confirmed for the position despite being nominated more than a year ago.
In a letter dated Thursday, they asked Senate leaders Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell to schedule a vote when the Senate returns to work Wednesday.
“The U.S. Embassy’s ability to speak directly to the most senior foreign officials is limited in the absence of a U.S. ambassador,” they wrote. “What Dr. Addison’s case needs now is strong leadership in Timor-Leste.”
Case unresolved
The Timorese government has not responded to requests for information from The Associated Press. Its embassy in Washington, D.C., met Friday with the U.S. State Department, but the case remains unresolved.
Addison’s East Timor-based attorney, Paul Remedios, said in an email he has yet to be told why the prosecutor sought to jail Addison during the investigation. He asked the court Oct. 29 to drop the investigation and release Addison.
“She was detained as a suspect, but the facts in the file show she was a witness only,” he wrote.
According to Addison’s supporters and her attorney, the Indonesian man who shared the taxi told the court he does not know Addison or the driver.
“Stacey was completely searched, all her belongings,” her mother said. “She was given drug test, they even searched her computer. Everything’s negative.”
Kero said her daughter has been treated well in jail, getting three meals a day and full access to her lawyer and the embassy.
Addison has been traveling the world since January 2013, starting in Antarctica. Kero said her daughter has always loved to travel, and saved her money and sold her home in preparation for this lengthy trip.
President Barack Obama nominated Stanton to serve as ambassador in July 2013, and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the appointment without objection on Jan. 15.
“We hope you share our belief that the entire country suffers when partisan or ideological disagreement prevents the Senate from confirming qualified, noncontroversial nominees,” the Oregon senators wrote to Reid and McConnell. “Dr. Addison’s case highlights the real costs of our inability to confirm ambassadorial nominees.”
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