SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Nearly three months later, a La Mesa security guard being held in Tijuana on gun charges is speaking out for the first time.
Jackie Anderson spent her lunch break on the phone.
“Hey son, I’ve been waiting so anxiously for you to call,” said Anderson, after she answered a call from her son, 28-year-old Rodney Dantzler Jr.
“It eased my heart just a little bit,” said Anderson.
On March 23, Dantzler, who works in private security, finished a shift before getting on the I-5, headed to a friend's home in Chula Vista.
He says he missed his exit, and ended up at the border, where he made a request, but wasn't allowed to make a U-turn.
Inside the trunk was a gun he was licensed to carry in the U.S. Mexican officials arrested him on gun charges.
“I was shocked and confused,” said Dantzler.
From a Tijuana prison, Dantzler told ABC 10News he has been transferred to a cell block for Americans, and is being treated well.
“I'm hanging in there, keeping God first. Trying not to break or snap. I just want to go home,” said Dantzler.
Dantzler says he's able to work out and read. He and other inmates have made UNO cards out of noodle packages.
“Every night, I think about family, my son… Keeping my head high and praying every night,” said Dantzler.
Dantzler’s family members started a Gofundme campaign last month, and recently, were able to hire an attorney in Mexico. That attorney has made a request for video of the arrest. A court date is scheduled for next week.
Dantzler is hopeful for a release, sooner than later.
“Praying for the end of this month — sometime this month,” said Dantzler.
The nervous waiting game is being felt on both sides of the border.
“I know he's anxious — I'm anxious. We’re all anxious just to get him back home,” said Anderson.
