A Killeen woman is begging for help tonight as her fiance sits behind bars in Kuwait facing a life sentence for a crime she says he didn't commit.
Jermaine Rogers is a local veteran who has been doing contract work in Kuwait for several years. In 2015 he was arrested in his apartment there and charged with possession of cocaine. He was convicted and sentenced to death by public hanging for having the drugs, but on an appeal that sentence was reduced to life in prison. Jermaine has now been sitting behind bars for over a year wondering if he'll ever get out.
Channel 6 talked to Jermaine's fiance Karina and his young daughter Thursday.
Karina says she's been in contact with several government agencies hoping they can help her prove Jermaine's innocence and bring him home but hasn't yet succeeded.
She recently returned to work to provide for Jermaine so he can buy clean water, substantial food and clean clothes in prison, things she says are not being provided to him otherwise.
"It's like I don't have time to take care of myself I'm always working and trying to get people involved and get anybody to help me because I just can't give up" says Karina Mateo, Jermaine's fiance.
Karina hasn't broken the news to her daughter yet and only tells her "daddy is working hard and always busy" something she says is devastating.
"How can I tell my daughter that the man that she values so high is in jail for something he didn't do I can't explain that I don't even know how to tell her it would break me" says Mateo.
"I like hanging out with him and if he's gone I'm not use to it" says Jermaine's 7 year old daughter.
The family created a change.org petition in hopes that the story can reach a bigger audience and spark enough interest in Jermaine's case to bring him home. It currently has close to 4 thousand signatures.
Sign the petition here.