Local Man Arrested in Mexico Sent to Hospital
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An ailing 81-year-old Oxnard man being held on drug charges in Tijuana is in stable condition after returning to a hospital for care, Mexican authorities said Friday.
George Murl, who has prostate cancer, is receiving medical attention at Tijuana General Hospital, though he has refused to eat, said hospital director Rolando Ortiz.
Murl was moved Thursday from La Mesa State Penitentiary to the hospital for tests, only to be moved back to prison when he refused an intravenous feed. But he was returned to the medical facility Friday, said his private Mexican attorney, Francisco Bazan.
The former Navy diver told Bazan he is on a hunger strike to protest his detention. Despite that, he apparently was in stable, if frail, condition, the lawyer said.
Murl was arrested May 24 for allegedly buying 600 tablets of a sedative similar to Valium without a prescription. He is being held without bail on a drug trafficking charge. Ortiz said doctors will deliver a medical report Monday to a Mexican federal judge deciding Murl’s case.
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