2 face charges in Mexico of corrupting minors

A winter visitor and his grandson, a Yuma resident, each face a charge of corruption of a minor in Mexico, Baja California state prosecutors say.
 
Edward Arthur Chrisman, 88, and Gary Lee Chrisman Jr., 40, remained incarcerated in Mexicali, Baja Calif., on Wednesday on allegations of offering to pay money to two girls, ages 13 and 17, to pose nude for photographs earlier this month in Los Algodones.
 
Yuma resident Shannon Perkins, the granddaughter of Edward Chrisman and sister of Gary Chrisman Jr., said the two have been wrongly arrested on false allegations. Perkins has acquired an attorney to secure their release.
 
Baja California prosecutors declined to comment but issued a written statement in response to inquiries from The Sun.
 
The statement alleges Gary Chrisman Jr. offered on two occasions to pay the girls to pose nude.
 
On the first occasion, on Jan. 5, the statement alleges, he offered to pay a 17-year-old to pose nude for a photo but she declined. The girl did pose fully clothed for a photo and received $24 from him, the statement said.
 
This took place at Jazmine, a gift store in Algodones, the statement said, and the 17-year-old was an employee of the store.
 
On the second occasion on Jan. 8, Gary Chrisman Jr. offered to pay the 13-year-old daughter of the store's owner to pose nude, but the girl refused, the statement said.
 
The owner called police, who arrested the two, prosecutors said.
 
Perkins said her brother never asked to take nude photos.
 
On a visit on Jan. 8 with his grandfather to the border town, she said, he had been taking cultural pictures before stopping into the store to purchase a drink. He asked the mother if he could take photos of the girls, and the mother gave her permission and accepted money from him, Perkins said.
 
He took only head shots of the girls, she said.
 
Edward Chrisman is a winter visitor from Washington state and Gary Chrisman is a Yuma resident.