Skylar Mack and her boyfriend were sentenced to four months in jail for violating coronavirus quarantine restrictions in the Cayman Islands and her grandmother, Jeanne Mack, is appealing to President Donald Trump for help with the case, Fox News reported.
Skylar, a medical student at Mercer University, and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet, a professional jet skier based out of the Cayman Islands, were each initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine, Fox News reported. However, Grand Court Justice Roger Chapple overturned the initial ruling and sentenced the pair to four months in jail.
Breaking news: Skylar Mack and Vanjae Ramjeet has been sentenced to 4 months of immediate imprisonment for their breach of quarantine.
More details to follow… pic.twitter.com/6ur5RYxuZH
— Cayman Compass (@cayCompass) December 15, 2020
Jeanne has now written the White House for help in bringing the case to a more reasonable resolution. “She’s terrified. She called me last night, she couldn’t sleep,” Jeanne Mack told Fox News.
“She knows she did wrong,” Jeanne added, calling Skyler’s decision to violate quarantine laws as “a total lapse in judgement of an otherwise brilliant young lady.” (RELATED: US Student Sentenced To Four Months In Jail For Violating Quarantine In Cayman Islands)
The Office of Presidential Correspondence thanked Skylar’s grandmother for “taking the time to write and share your story with President Donald J. Trump” in an email obtained by Fox News. “White House staff reviewed your correspondence and forwarded it to the appropriate Federal agency for further action,” the email went on to say.
“This was as flagrant a breach as could be imagined,” Chapple said of Skylar and Ramgeet’s actions in court. “It was borne of selfishness and arrogance,” Chapple added.
U.S. college student sentenced to 4 months in prison for breaking Cayman Islands’ COVID-19 protocol https://t.co/N7DuUZCy8G pic.twitter.com/t1kai24Q1t
— CTV News (@CTVNews) December 19, 2020
Skylar violated local quarantine requirements by slipping out of a wrist band monitor that marked her quarantine status after complaining to officials that the wristband was too tight and convinced them to loosen it. Skylar had slipped the wristband in order to watch Ramgeet compete in a jet ski competition.
“This was entirely deliberate and planned, as evidenced by her desire to switch her wristband the day before to a looser one that she was then able to remove,” Chapple said, according to Fox News.
The State Department is aware of the case, but a spokesperson told Fox News that “due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
Jeanne is continuing to put pressure on the U.S. government to take action. “They needed to make a statement,” she said during an “America’s Newsroom” interview on Fox News. “Their government is accusing her of causing major anxiety of everybody that was on the island but it’s because they’re not telling them that she was negative – she does not have the virus, she never has had the virus,” she added.
Skylar also feels remorse for her actions. “I was afforded the opportunity to enter the islands during these trying times and I abused it,” she said, according to Fox News. “I am humbly asking for the forgiveness of the community,” she added.
“We don’t want her left on the island,” Jeanne said, according to Fox News. “We want her home.”