A Michigan couple, who had been kept “hostage” in a Mexican prison for nearly a month, was released on Thursday and is returning home.

Paul Akeo, a Navy veteran, and his wife Christy were released after spending 30 days in detention for allegedly scamming hospitality firm Palace Resorts.

“Paul and Christy Akeo are coming home. Mission accomplished,” Rep. Tom Barrett (R-Mi.) wrote in a post to X.

The couple, both 60, was arrested on March 4 after arriving in Cancun for a holiday and having their passports flagged.

The arrests were viewed as punishment against the couple for disputing charges made on their credit card by a resort during a stay in 2021.

“Make no mistake, what they’re doing is they are holding two Americans hostage because they want them to pay them money,” family lawyer John Manly told CBS last month.

The couple owned a timeshare through The Palace Company and disputed 13 charges totalling $117,000 from Palace Resorts on their American Express card.

They were being imprisoned in a maximum-security prison with no bond.

Barrett described the prison’s conditions as “horrific,” citing collapsing walls, damaged sewage lines, overcrowded cells, and “disgusting food.”

“This has left them scared, frustrated, and struggling to find hope,” the freshman congressman said in an earlier post shared a day before the couple’s release.

Barrett had flown down to Quintana Roo, Mexico, to meet with the couple and officials to arrange their release.

Barrett and the couple were captured on video boarding a plane bound for Michigan.

They arrived in Lansing, Michigan, shortly after 12:30 a.m. on Friday, according to CBS Detroit.

“There’s so many people who have supported us,” she said after her return to the US. “I don’t even know how we’re going to repay or thank people.”

According to Christy’s daughter Lindsey Hull, Paul and Christy were denied medical attention and communication services while imprisoned, and they were “publicly defamed” by Mexican news organisations.

Christy Akeo lost 25 pounds after being offered food that officials knew she was allergic to, according to her daughter.

Hull had started a Facebook page to assist have her mother and stepfather released, criticising the federal government for its “lack of action.”

“Paul is a US Navy Chief Petty Officer and served our country for 21 years. The lack of action from our own government officials to help an innocent veteran who proudly served our country is UNACCEPTABLE,” she said.

The Palace Company accused the Akeos of “publicly encouraging” others to “defraud” it.

“Paul and Christy Akeo fraudulently disputed legitimate credit card charges and publicly encouraged others to do the same,” a Palace official told ABC News.

Prosecutors also accused Christy of spreading the word about the alleged scam on Facebook, instructing on how to “commit the fraud against the hotel chain.”

A judge ordered that they be held in “justified preventive detention” for half a year while the proceedings were ongoing.

According to CBS Detroit, the Akeos announced that charges against the couple had been dismissed.