Pubdate: Wed, 22 Dec 2004
Source: Courier-Journal, The (KY)
Copyright: 2004 The Courier-Journal
Contact:  http://www.courier-journal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/97
Author: Peter Smith
Note: does not publish LTEs from outside their circulation area

CHURCH SEEKING ASSISTANCE FOR JAILED CONGREGANT

Native Colombian Is Held In Homeland

A local congregation is rallying to support a member who has been
imprisoned for more than a month in her native Colombia on a
drug-related charge church members say is false.

Lucia Lezcano, who has lived in the United States since 1992 and is an
American citizen, flew to Bogota and was arrested at the airport,
according to Philip Molestina, who is the Hispanic minister at South
Louisville Christian Church.

Molestina said Lezcano's arrest involved a checking account that
Lezcano had used when she lived in Colombia. He said that several
months after Lezcano left Colombia in 1992, someone apparently used
the account to write a check to a known drug dealer, and she was
convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.

Molestina said Lezcano is innocent and it was impossible for her to
have written the check after leaving the country. He said she did not
know she had been convicted.

Molestina said Lezcano had an encouraging hearing in court Friday but
more court proceedings are expected.

In the meantime, her church has raised money for her legal fees, which
have surpassed $7,000. The church held a fund-raiser dinner Saturday
night that raised $400.

The church also has contacted U.S. officials on her behalf, and
Molestina said it has learned that the U.S. Embassy in Bogota is aware
of her plight.

U.S. Rep. Anne Northup's office has been in contact with the U.S.
Embassy in Bogota about Lezcano's case, spokeswoman Annie Reed said,
but Reed wouldn't comment about the specifics.

Francisco Echeverri, a minister counselor at the Embassy of Colombia
in Washington, said he did not have specific information about
Lezcano's case but said when foreign citizens are arrested, their
nation's embassies are contacted.

Calls to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota were not returned.

Lezcano, who works at a clothing distribution center in Louisville,
had gone to Colombia to visit a teenage daughter from a previous
marriage, Molestina said. A younger daughter who lived with her in
Louisville is now with relatives, he said.

Lezcano has been "faithfully involved in many ways" with the church's
Hispanic ministry, Molestina said. Her faith is "something that
changed her life."

He said her time in prison has been difficult, marked by conflicts
with prisoners who believe that because she is an American citizen she
has money to spare that she can give to them.

Last week, he said she told him by phone that when she is released,
she plans to visit with family in Colombia before returning to the
United States.
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