NEW ORLEANS — One of the founding members of a local brass band is stranded in Bermuda according to his cousin Walter Ramsey.
Ramsey says 29-year-old, Thaddeus Ramsey, visited the island last spring with the Big 6 Brass Band to perform at the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts. Nearly a year later the bass drummer is still there facing a legal battle.
“This is just crazy, first they were saying it was going to take just a week for them to investigate,” said Thaddeus Ramsey. “The week turned into a whole year now. We are on month ten.”
Ramsey says he was stopped by customs as he was leaving the island because he was carrying too much cash. He says Bermudan authorities thought he may have been money laundering and wanted to investigate.
“I’m on bail, they confiscated my passport and said I wasn’t able to travel,” he said.
Authorities released him on bond but deemed him a flight risk, preventing him from returning to New Orleans.
“No one seems to understand what’s going on everyone says the case should have been over with,” he said.
According to Ramsey’s cousin, Walter Ramsey of The Stooges, the drummer has been staying in the back of a church for the past ten months.
“He’s just ready to come home, trying to understand that being in a foreign country for that long with no family is kind of hard,” said Ramsey.
On Friday, March 15th, Ramsey, and several other bands are hosting a benefit concert to raise money to hire an attorney that can help get Thaddeus Ramsey home.
“He is one of those people, we come from the culture. Our grandfather, his dad, my dad we all come from this culture,” said Ramsey.
“I just appreciate all of the support and because this could have happened to anyone,” said Thaddeus Ramsey.
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