American woman accused of bringing ammo to Turks & Caicos returns home after paying fine

Sharitta Grier, a Florida woman who brought ammunition to the Turks and Caicos while visiting the islands with her daughter for Mother's Day, was freed Thursday after paying a fine.

Grier told ABC News following her sentencing that she was "very happy" to be going home.

"It's been a long time coming," said.

She was fined $1,500 and given a 23-week suspended sentence during a sentencing hearing on Thursday.

Grier returned to Orlando International Airport later Thursday evening to a huge crowd of family and friends.

"Oh, I'm just very grateful for it all from everybody, all over the world -- people from Oklahoma, places I didn't even know nothing about," said Sharitta Grier.

When asked if she had any advice for others traveling out of the country, Grier said, "Check their luggage. You know, just be careful. Be very careful, because the other states, all the countries, got different homes. So that's very serious."

Police said they found two rounds of ammunition in Grier's duffel bag during a routine search at Howard Hamilton International Airport.

She told Orlando ABC affiliate WFTV following her arrest she had no idea two rounds were in the bottom of her duffel bag.

Grier pleaded guilty to one count of possession of ammunition. She had been released on $15,000 bail following her arrest and ordered to remain in the Caribbean territory until the completion of her case.

RELATED: US tourists charged with possessing ammo | What to know about Turks and Caicos' strict gun laws

After the emotional reunion in the airport, Grier said she was going to spend the night with her grandkids.

She was the fifth American to be charged under Turks and Caicos' gun laws in recent months and faced a mandatory 12-year prison sentence unless the court found "exceptional circumstances."

Other Americans charged

Three other American tourists who were similarly charged and detained on the islands after inadvertently traveling with ammunition have since been able to return home with the court citing "exceptional circumstances" to avoid the mandatory sentence.

In May, Tyler Wenrich was sentenced to time served and fined $9,000, while Bryan Hagerich was sentenced to a suspended 52-week sentence with a fine of $6,700. The court found there to be "exceptional circumstances" in their cases that made a mandatory 12-year prison sentence unjust and disproportionate to the crime committed.

In June, Ryan Watson was fined $2,000 -- $500 for each of four bullets discovered in his luggage.

Michael Lee Evans, a fourth American who was charged under the firearms ordinance but allowed to return home to Texas amid his legal proceedings, received a 33-week suspended sentence with no fine.

Watson and Evans were sentenced after the Turks and Caicos government approved a bill amending a section of their firearms ordinance to clarify the court has more discretion in sentencing people convicted of violating the law when "exceptional circumstances" are found. Previously, the law allowed discretion for a lesser prison sentence than the mandatory 12-year minimum, though it still required the court to impose both a prison sentence and fine, according to the Turks and Caicos attorney general.

Under the amended law, the court has the "widest possible breadth of discretion" and can impose either a fine, custodial sentence or both, the attorney general said in a statement.

No constitutional right to carry firearms in Turks and Caicos

Though the territory doesn't manufacture firearms or ammunition, the number of firearms finding their way to the islands has increased - and that's a worry, Turks and Caicos Premier Washington Misick said.

While it is legal to fly in the US with unloaded firearms and ammunition in checked baggage, according to the Transportation Security Administration, taking firearms or ammunition into Turks and Caicos without prior permission from police is "strictly forbidden."

The mandatory sentence was in place to protect those on the islands, Gov. Dileeni Daniel-Selvaratnam has said, adding judges could use their discretion to impose reduced sentences in "exceptional circumstances."

But no special treatment should be given to any group, the Turks and Caicos premier said: "The law must be applied even-handedly."

Even so, the "amendment was introduced to address concerns about the rigidity of the previous sentencing framework, which mandated both imprisonment and financial penalties for all firearms offenses, regardless of the specific context or severity," House of Assembly member Edwin Astwood said in a statement.

"This often resulted in disproportionately harsh sentences that did not always fit the nature of the crime or the circumstances of the offender."

US citizens are not being targeted, Turks and Caicos officials have said. Of the 195 people sentenced for firearm-related offenses over the past six years, only seven were US citizens, Misick has said, and none got a 12-year sentence.

While Turks and Caicos collaborates with the US in battling narcotics, terrorism and money laundering, "our laws and processes are not congruent," Misick said.

"We are a separate sovereignty. We respect the United States' laws and we will never think to interfere in its operation."

ABC News and CNN contributed to this report.