ATLANTA — A local college student jailed in the Cayman Islands for breaking COVID-19 rules is now back home.
ABC News sent Channel 2 Action News exclusive new video of Skylar Mack arriving Friday at Atlanta’s airport.
The 18-year-old from Loganville spent more than a month in jail after breaking quarantine rules for tourists when she and her boyfriend went to a jet ski competition in November.
Police said Mack flew into the Cayman Islands and removed a tracking bracelet that was supposed to track her in quarantine within days of getting there so she could go to the competition.
The couple was then accused of interacting with people for more than seven hours at the event while not wearing masks.
One court sentenced the couple to community service, then on appeal, to four months in prison. The Cayman’s highest court then reduced the sentences to two months.
[RELATED STORY: Sentence reduced for metro 18-year-old who broke Cayman Islands COVID-19 quarantine]
Mack told reporters she is happy to be home. Her grandmother, Jeanne Mack, said she is beyond relieved.
“It’s the biggest relief. I finally slept through the night,” Jeanne Mack said. “It’s kind of hard to fall asleep when someone you love so much you know that they’re not sleeping.”
Jeanne Mack said she first heard her granddaughter was in trouble when the boyfriend called while authorities were talking to her.
“He kept saying, ‘Please don’t be mad with her. Please don’t be mad with her,’” Jeanne Mack said. “And I’m like, ‘She knows better.’”
The judge blasted Skyler Mack, calling her actions “as flagrant a breach she made as could be imagined,” adding that it was born of “selfishness and arrogance.”
Sklyer and Jeanne Mack made clear that she made the decision to breach quarantine and needed to face the consequences.
Channel 2 Action News spoke to Mack’s family while she was still in prison.
“The stress, scared, she’s scared to death over there,” said Skyler’s mother Rebecca Burt. “She’s by herself there’s no family there whatsoever to speak of.”
Mack’s grandmother said she even reached out to President Donald Trump for help. She said she got a response back that he read her message and it was passed along to the appropriate government agency.
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