Dr. Justus Lawrence Opot gives a thumbs up while talking to reporters and friends at Juarez Immigration offices. Opot had to be cleared at the offices after being released from Cereso prison. (Special to the Times)
Dr. Justus Lawrence Opot is a free man. Opot, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Kenya, exited Juárez immigration offices Thursday night cleared of the drug charges he had faced after his arrest on Jan. 12.
With a smile on his face, the 40-year-old Opot gave a thumbs up and talked about love before a dozen reporters.
“I have seen the love of Juárez,” he said. “I have seen there’s still justice in this city.”
Federal police arrested Opot and his co-worker Marisol Pérez, 33, also a U.S. citizen, after they turned over to police 110 pounds of marijuana. They told police the drugs were planted in Pérez’s vehicle overnight. Police took Opot and Pérez before the Mexican attorney general, and a judge ordered them booked into the Cereso prison.
It all started when Opot was riding with Pérez to work because his car was with a mechanic.
Opot and Pérez live in Juárez and commute to their El Paso jobs at the Mental Health Mental Retardation clinic. Opot is a psychotherapist, and Pérez is a medical records clerk.
When Opot placed his briefcase in Pérez’s car trunk the morning of Jan. 12, he noticed two duffel bags there. Inside the bags were aluminum packages placed inside plastic bags. Before verifying what was inside them, the two went to a police checkpoint, where they handed over the bags to officers and told them what had happened.
Pérez’s lawyer maintained that someone knew his client had documents for express entry into El Paso and therefore planted the drugs, thinking her vehicle would pass without inspection.
Mexican Judge Alberto Emilio Carmona said Thursday that there was not enough evidence to prosecute Opot and Pérez. The prosecutor could not demonstrate that Opot and Pérez were committing a crime, Carmona said.
“I am very satisfied with the judge’s decision,” said Mario Zamora, Opot’s attorney. “There was justice.”
The arrest of Opot provoked controversy in a city plagued with drug-cartel violence, in which 3,112 killings occurred in 2010.
Opot’s wife, Marisol Arreola, organized protests in the streets, where people held signs that read, “To report a crime is not a crime.”
Opot said all he and Pérez were doing was going to the police to report that someone had planted drugs on them.
“It made me wonder whether to have ethics was a good thing,” he said.
But as the case unfolded this week, Opot recovered his faith.
“I started getting confident because the judge was hearing all the stories from the witnesses,” he said.
Opot said he had not decided whether he will stay in Juárez or move to El Paso after the nine-day ordeal. He said he had to consult with his wife.
His co-worker Pérez said she was leaving Juárez immediately to protect her 5-year-old daughter.
“Thank God it is all over,” Pérez said.
Opot’s wife, Marisol, said she was happy to have her husband back home. But she said authorities need to have better ways to report drug crimes in Juárez without incriminating the people who report them.
“It shouldn’t have gone this far,” she said.
Opot has not lost his faith in Juárez.
“I love this city,” he said. “I would still report a crime.”
Opot hugged his wife as he joked and laughed with some reporters Thursday at the immigration offices on the Mexican side of the Stanton Street bridge.
Police took him to immigration officials to verify his status in Mexico after releasing him from the Cereso prison Thursday afternoon.
Pérez also had to go through the process.
The first thing Opot was going to do after leaving the immigration office was “eat some tacos,” he said.
“I feel a joy I haven’t felt in a long time,” he said.
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