LOS ALGODONES, Baja California Norte - The pornography arrest of an 88-year-old snowbird in Mexico, along with his grandson, is quickly escalating into an international incident.

Family members of Edward Chrisman of Washington, who was jailed Jan. 8 with 40-year-old Gary Chrisman Jr., say the two men are victims of Mexican injustice.

But the woman who pressed charges for soliciting nude photographs of her 13-year-old daughter said police acted properly.

The Chrismans are about to enter their fourth week behind bars while family members carry on a publicity campaign declaring they are innocent targets of an attempted shakedown. Shannon Perkins, sister of Gary Chrisman Jr., said Mexican officials twice suggested that charges would be dropped if family members came up with thousands of dollars in bribe money.

"The corruption and injustice in Mexico are completely out of control," Perkins wrote in a letter to the media. "When people become so desperately greedy for money that they would fabricate atrocious stories and slander two innocent men's reputations without remorse, we have a serious problem on our hands."

In an interview with The Arizona Republic last week, the 13-year-old girl's mother offered an entirely different account. The mother, who filed the criminal complaint, said she and her daughter are not greedy or corrupt Mexicans, but U.S. citizens who live in Yuma and filed the police report out of fear.

"This is the truth," the girl's mother concluded, her eyes welling. "My daughter is afraid. . . . And all the lies keep coming" in news stories.

Conflicting accounts

Los Algodones is a popular border destination just southwest of Yuma, where tourists seek cut-rate prescription medications and low-cost medical care.

Most of the town's estimated 4,000 residents depend on dollars from American visitors for subsistence, and the community even has a squad of special "tourism police" to ensure good relations.

All of which makes the he-said-she-said incident at the mother's novelty store, Novedades Jasmine, all the more puzzling.

According to Perkins, her grandfather and brother visited the Mexican town Jan. 8 so Gary Chrisman could have dental work done. Although most tourists park at the border and walk into Mexico, Perkins said, her brother drove across the border because of his grandfather's failing health.

She added that Gary Jr., a Yuma security guard, had received a camera for Christmas and was taking cultural pictures in Mexico. So the two men drove beyond the main tourist zone and stopped at Novedades Jasmine to buy a soda. Inside, Gary Chrisman Jr. asked the girl and two young women if he could take their photographs. According to Perkins, one of the women requested money, and Gary Jr. gave her about $25.

The mother's version of the event: The Chrismans first visited on Jan. 5 while her daughter was tending the shop with two other women. The mother said Gary Chrisman entered the store alone and took some normal pictures with permission, then said, "Without clothes, I'll pay more." When the girls refused, the girl's mother said, the visitor displayed a knife and said things would go bad if the girls told anyone. She added that the man wrote his name and phone number on a sheet of paper, telling the girls to call if they had a change of heart.

She said her daughter was shaken that day as she told of the incident.

On Jan. 8, she said, Chrisman returned and again offered to pay for photos without clothing. "My daughter told him, 'No, and get out of here.' "

The girl's mother said she arrived in her car as the men were driving away. She followed, calling police on her cellphone.

As a businesswoman who relies partly on tourism, she said she has no motive to fabricate such a story. She added that her daughter remains fearful and has been traumatized by media coverage.

"They say I'm telling lies, but police have a page with his name and number on it," she added.

Jail conditions

Perkins said her brother and father have clean records, and it makes no sense that they would risk arrest for naked pictures when there is a free strip-tease bar just down the street.

Perkins also noted that allegations about a knife are not in the police report. "Absolutely ridiculous. Gary doesn't even own a knife," she said.

After the arrest, Perkins said, her grandfather and brother were held in horrid conditions, forced to sleep on concrete without food, water or family notification.

The two men had no hearing for five days, she said, and were told they had been found innocent. But that decision was promptly reversed, and they were shipped to a prison in Mexicali, where they remain.

Early this week, Perkins and other family members offered to provide documents for a news report on the case. However, when a reporter arrived in Yuma, a representative refused to divulge the records or the name of the family's attorney in Mexico.

Foreign affairs

Accounts of what happened in Los Algodones merge on one important point: Edward Chrisman did not enter the store.

The girl's mother said she has no idea why the octogenarian was arrested and does not believe he should be in jail.

"We're so outraged that this could happen," Perkins said. "My grandfather wasn't even doing anything. He was in the car."

Even Los Algodones Mayor Hector Guzman said he is mystified and is pressing for a quick resolution to the court case.

Guzman became part of the intrigue early when he did a television interview and declared that photographs seized from Gary Chrisman Jr.'s camera are not illegal. Some media reports indicated the mayor had ruled both men innocent.

In fact, Guzman said, he does not know what happened in the store and will let the justice system determine guilt or innocence.

Media coverage further fueled the controversy. Initial news reports in Mexico contained lurid, inaccurate allegations and distorted mug shots. Subsequent online reports in the United States were somewhat sympathetic to the Chrisman family.

An Internet article by KOMO-TV of Seattle, Wash., appeared under the headline: "Family: Wrongfully held man may die in Mexican jail."

The Chrisman family is trying to apply political and economic pressure on other fronts. Last week, Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., announced she would contact the State Department.

Guzman said he is aware that the case has international implications. "It's very difficult," he added. "We never have problems like this. This is a peaceful pueblo, and we always respect people whether they are citizens or not."