Local women could return to SB soon

BY COLBY FRAZIER
DAILY SOUND STAFF WRITER

Two Santa Barbara women who have been held in India for the past two months could be home soon.
An Indian judge signed papers yesterday that could open the door for Monica and Heather Bond, a mother-daughter duo facing charges that stem from illegal ammunition found in their luggage, to be given back their passports and travel home, said Lawrence Bond, Monica’s husband.

“I will know [this morning] whether they got their passports back,” he said. “You don’t count your chickens until they hatch.”
Since the women were arrested April 14, Lawrence Bond’s days have been filled with anxiety and fear, scattered with fleeting moments of hope.
During a phone interview last night, he was cautious with his words and was careful not to sound too optimistic.
“I’m still basically in disbelief,” he said. “I’ll believe it when I see it. It’s just been a long, sad ordeal for me.”
Two weeks ago, Lawrence Bond, who underwent quintuple bypass surgery in 1995 after dropping dead in the middle of the street, checked himself into Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital after experiencing a tingling sensation near his heart.
The doctors said the sensation wasn’t life threatening and was most likely the result of the high stress he’d been experiencing.
But the news of her husbands condition hasn’t set well with Monica Bond, 57, who Lawrence Bond said was worried sick.
“That was really, really stressful on both of them,” he said. “They’ll just be glad to get back here.”
The two women were arrested in an airport near Darjeeling, India after several rounds of 9 mm ammunition was found in Heather Bond’s luggage.
Sean McGaughey, Heather Bond’s boyfriend, said the ammunition, which consisted of 11 bullets, belonged to him and made it into her bag on accident. He said the two often carry weapons while camping in the backcountry around Santa Barbara.
But that didn’t explain how the ammunition made it through security undetected at a number of large airports around the world, including LAX.
The two women were held in an Indian jail for 16 days before a judge granted a bail request, which had been rejected two times prior. They were apparently charged with crimes under the Indian Arms Act, and have been residing in hotels near Siliguri, India since the end of April.
At the time of his hospitalization, Lawrence Bond said if one more trickle of bad news arrived in his e-mail inbox, he wasn’t sure he could take it.
“I was on the ropes and somebody was kicking me in the stomach,” he said. “I just thought one more kick and I’d be down for the count. I just didn’t think I could take anymore bad news.”
Since his release from the hospital, the news has gradually been getting better, and he hopes this morning he’ll receive the news that his loved ones are coming home.
“I’m not going to breathe a sigh of relief until they step on California soil. I know that,” he said.