Marine veteran Trevor Reed is currently serving a nine-year sentence in a Russian jail on alleged charges of being involved in a drunken altercation with police.
His parents, Joey and Paula Reed, say those charges are bogus and are asking the public to reach out to President Joe Biden and other lawmakers to help bring their son home.
Joey Reed described his son as a normal kid who earned his Eagle Scout badge and participated in wrestling while growing up. Trevor joined the Marine Corps shortly after graduating from high school and threw his hat in the ring to become a Presidential Guard while at boot camp, he said.
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“He wanted to go fight in Afghanistan,” Joey said. “We convinced him through the mail that he should try that [being a presidential guard] if they would let him. I think they selected four people out of a company of 400.”
Trevor was one of the four selected and would go on to serve as a presidential guard at Camp David while Barak Obama was president.
Following his discharge from the Corps, Trevor was pursuing a degree in international studies when he decided to spend summer vacation with his Russian girlfriend in the summer of 2019.
Joey said Trevor and his girlfriend attended a vodka-laden party in August of that year.
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“Under Russian law, if you’re extremely intoxicated they don’t take you to jail or the jails would be overflowing with people,” said Joey. “They take them to the hospital.”
However, Trevor was taken to a police station instead, where Russian authorities learned he is a former Marine and charged him with assault. According to the Russians, Trevor was drunk inside a police car when he grabbed the arm of the driver, causing him to swerve into another lane, and elbowed another officer who tried to intervene.
During his trial in 2020, Joey said Russian authorities offered no corroborating evidence of the alleged assault and that eyewitnesses dispute their account.
“Trevor would never harm a police officer and didn’t,” said Joey.
Joey urged people to visit whitehouse.gov/contact and message President Joe Biden to bring Trevor Reed home. He also said the public should send similar messages to the national officials who represent them.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com