A Michigan couple travelled to Mexico for vacation. They ended up in prison over disputed timeshare payments

Mexican authorities posted images of Paul and Christy Akeo after their detention. (Fiscalía General del Estado de Quintana Roo via CNN Newsource)

A Michigan couple’s payment dispute with a timeshare company has landed them in a Mexican prison, accused of defrauding a hospitality company, according to Mexican prosecutors.

The couple’s family says the allegations against them are false and are calling on the United States government to intervene.

Paul Akeo, a 58-year-old Navy veteran, and his wife Christy, 60, traveled from their home in Spring Arbor on March 4 to the resort city of Cancun expecting a care-free vacation. They ended up getting stopped by authorities soon after their plane landed, according to their family.

Lindsey Hull told CNN her parents were taken into custody and told arrests warrants had been issued for them in Mexico after a criminal complaint was filed by “The Palace Company” alleging fraud. “We’re assuming it has something to do with the timeshare with Palace Resorts,” she recalled her stepfather telling her in a call the day of the arrest.

Prosecutors in the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, where Cancun is located, allege in a March 15 statement that the couple canceled 13 credit card payments to a hotel chain totaling more than $116,500 in 2022. Though prosecutors did not elaborate on possible evidence, they said the activity constitutes fraud.

The case stems from a 2021 timeshare agreement between the Akeos and Palace Elite – a subsidiary of The Palace Company, a hospitality business, Akeo family attorney John Manly told CNN.

Through their attorneys, the Akeos claim that a few months into their timeshare contract, Palace failed to provide the services that were promised and the couple subsequently filed a complaint with their credit card company seeking a refund of nearly $117,000 in Palace payments. The couple argued that the resort company breached their contract.

“The Akeos are being held because they successfully disputed Palace’ [sic] charges and failure to deliver services with American Express, criticized the Company on Facebook and alerted others who felt wronged by Palace,” Manly said in a statement.

Prosecutors have alleged Christy Akeo went on Facebook “to inform how said fraud was committed against the hotel chain.” Manly said the company was retaliating against the couple for challenging the charges.

A spokesperson for The Palace Company told CNN in a statement that they filed a complaint with Mexican authorities after the Akeos “fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same.”

“Mexican prosecutors reviewed the evidence and, following failed attempts to serve notice, obtained a court-approved arrest warrant,” the company stated.

Hull maintains her family received no notice that she is aware of and said her mother did take to social media to share her negative experience with fellow Palace patrons. However, she’s baffled at why social media activity may have contributed to the arrest.

“My mom was very clear about that in this Facebook group where people were seeking information on what to do when you get in these memberships,” Hull said. “If there’s 8,000 people dealing with the same thing, and the same disappointments with Palace Resorts, and how they treat their members, maybe you should look in the mirror and make a change.”

A Mexican judge ordered the couple detained pending the ongoing proceedings, according to local prosecutors. The Akeo family is now pleading for help from Washington to get the couple out of detention.

Michigan Rep. Tom Barrett wrote on X that he has spoken to his constituent’s family and is working to “ensure the situation is resolved as urgently and safely as possible.”

The US State Department told CNN it’s “aware of reports of the detention of two U.S. citizens in Mexico” but declined to offer specifics.

Couple is in ‘hell hole’ maximum-security prison, lawyer says

The couple is being “held captive in a hell hole of a Mexican maximum-security prison,” Manly said in a statement to CNN.

“The urgency is beyond important because we have no idea what is happening to them at any time. Their lives are in danger. Their health is declining. We need to get these people home,” says Hull, referring to her parents. “We just don’t have another option. They’re not going to be sitting in prison indefinitely.”

Paul Akeo is a 21-year Navy veteran who currently works as an engineer with the Michigan State Police, according to Manly. His wife, Christy, is a grandmother and small business owner.

“You’ve imprisoned a highly decorated U.S. Navy veteran, a first responder and a grandmother because they dared to call out your timeshare clients’ well-documented deceptive practices and abuse of its customers,” Manly wrote in a March 21 letter to The Palace Company’s lawyer.

In the letter, Manly claimed the company is extorting the couple and their family and retaliating against them for challenging “fraudulent and unlawful charges” and then posting about their experience on social media.

“Put plainly, in retaliation, your clients have captured, kidnapped, battered, assaulted, falsely imprisoned, threatened, intimidated, belittled, harassed, libeled and engaged in a course of such horrific and outrageous civil and criminal conduct against these two elderly Americans that is almost incomprehensible,” Manly wrote.

‘This company needs to be stopped’

Manly warned in the letter that the case could have negative consequences for tourism in the region. The couple’s arrest has left at least one other couple wary of travel to Mexico.

Jenn Bartko, 52, said she and her husband don’t plan to go to Mexico anytime soon out of fear that they’ll be arrested after seeing what happened to the Akeos. Similar to the Akeos, her credit card company refunded her $8,355 from the Palace Elite Resorts just last week, Bartko told CNN.

“I just want more people to be aware of the scam, and this company needs to be stopped,” Bartko said. “It’s just not fair for people who are going to have a good vacation and our vacation was completely ruined by this experience.”

Bartko said she and her husband put down a deposit for a Palace Elite membership while staying at the Moon Palace Cancun in mid-January, but soon learned that many of the promised membership deals didn’t exist and found negative reviews online, she said.

Though they were still within the five-day grace period, staff refused to give them a full refund and they waited until they were back home in San Diego to dispute the charges with their credit card company, Bartko said.

Bartko said they looped PROFECO, Mexico’s consumer protection agency, into their case. The Palace Company did not respond to CNN’s request for comment on the more than 100 complaints against it made with the consumer protection agency.

“We will not be going to Mexico for a while which is sad because we’re right by the Mexican border. We love Mexico,” Bartko said. “I’m not willing to try to find out because I don’t want to get stuck in a Mexican prison.”

CNN’s Majlie de Puy Kamp contributed to this report.