Trucker talks about time in Mexico jail

DALLAS (AP) - A Texas trucker arrested after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border with a load of 268,000 bullets said Wednesday that he feared for his safety during seven months in a Mexican prison with nine people in a cell with only five beds.

Jabin Bogan, 27, said he slept on the floor for most the time. He worried the Spanish-speaking inmates around him were conspiring to hurt him, although none ever physically attacked him.

Bogan gave new details about his release at a news conference in his hometown of Dallas. He returned to the U.S. on Friday after being freed from prison the week before.

He has said he was on his way to Phoenix to deliver the ammunition in April, when he took a wrong turn. He was arrested in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, just across the border from El Paso, and convicted of possession of military ammunition. He was sentenced to three years in prison but that was later commuted to time served and a fine.

Bogan said he relied on a cellmate who spoke Spanish to navigate prison life. Otherwise, he said, it was "like me against 10,000 people."

He said he was first told an investigation would take 48 hours. That quickly stretched into weeks and then months.

Bogan's U.S. attorney, Larry Taylor, said about $5,000 in donations covered a fine paid to Mexican authorities and fees for an attorney there.