UPDATE:
On Aug. 13, ;Sen. Maria Cantwell sent a letter to the Philippine Secretary of Foreign Affairs reading in part:
"Could you use your good offices to ensure Mr. McMahon now receives fair treatment… and is allowed to return to the United States without delay?"
The senator's spokesman confirms the letter was received in the Philippines, and said staff is also working with the Philippine Embassy in Washington D.C. and with Secretary of State John Kerry's office.
However, McMahon's family still says not enough is being done.
Back from the Philippines Wednesday, having watched her son be acquitted only to see him have to go into hiding, McMahon's mother Shelley Campanella is extremely frustrated.
"Of course we're appreciative of the gesture to write the letter, but again we had hoped for a public statement," Campanella said. "And I feel there is just so much more that she could be doing... You always think this could never happen to you, we're here to tell you it can happen to you."
Cantwell's spokesman said right now Kerry's office does not think a public statement in necessary.
August 10th, 2016:
After being declared innocent and wrongly accused of rape a week ago by a court in the Philippines, a Seattle man who spent five-and-a-half years in prison is now facing expensive government fines and possible re-arrest by Philippines officials.
After Scott McMahon was freed from prison and tried to return to the U.S., his family said the Philippines Ministry of Immigration immediately started looking for him.
Officials told McMahon's family he owes more than $10,000 in fines because they say his visa expired while he was wrongfully imprisoned. McMahon's legal representatives say he is staying in an undisclosed location, hoping U.S. officials will help him leave the Philippines.
"We now fear for his safety, we fear for his life, we fear he's going to end up back in prison," said Jennifer Smith, McMahon's sister, who lives in Seattle.
"Every moment that he stays there and he's not allowed to come home puts him in danger of re-arrest, puts him in danger of retaliation," she said.
Last week, a court in the Philippines ruled McMahon was falsely accused of rape by a woman who his attorneys argue was also trying to extort money from him.
McMahon, who has two children and had a successful construction career, spent five-and-a-half years in a Philippines prison before his trial.
"He's already suffered enough," Smith said."Five-and-a-half years separated from his family. Five-and-a-half years wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he did not commit," she said.
Jennifer Smith and McMahon's mother, Shelley Campanella, have asked Sen. Maria Cantwell's office to help them for more than a year.
After Cantwell's office agreed to get involved via emails to McMahon's family, they stopped communicating, according to Smith. Cantwell's press secretary told KIRO-7 the office "cannot confirm nor deny cases involving constituents." Campanella had signed a clearance waiver from Cantwell's office, allowing them to speak to media regarding McMahon's case.
McMahon sent a tweet Monday from the Philippines directed at Cantwell, begging for help. Eric Vols, who represents McMahon from the David House Agency in California, said a call from Cantwell to the Philippines government could free McMahon quickly.
"She's an elected official and her job is to represent the interests of her constituents," he said. "She's not doing that. I think Washington state residents need to know about this, because it's not OK."
Smith said the family has discussed the possibility McMahon could seek refuge in the American Embassy, but they're hoping intervention from U.S. officials will allow him to leave without paying what they say is an outrageous penalty after being wrongly imprisoned.
"Their intervention could bring my brother home," Smith said."Their intervention could potentially save his life."
Cox Media Group
