A Bay Area man is back home after he says he was wrongfully imprisoned in Nepal where he did humanitarian work for years.
On Tuesday, KRON4 met with the man and his mother who is grateful for his return.
For the past five months, 31-year-old Wolf Price, of Palo Alto, says he endured harsh conditions in a jail in Nepal because of a corrupt judicial system that falsified evidence against him.
“The government is going against foreigners now that are doing social work,” Price said. “They don’t really want outside interventions.”
The humanitarian filmmaker moved to Nepal six years ago where he made social documentaries to improve the quality of life for women.
But in April, his own quality of life suffered when he was suddenly handcuffed by police.
“Totally sudden…I got a text message saying, ‘I got arrested they’re taking away my phone. Boom!'” mother Mary Bartnikowski said.
Wolf says a local tried to extort him for money and then reported him to police with an unproven claim that he had assaulted the man.
Since the arrest, his mother worked tirelessly with help from friends and a good lawyer. Then, she flew to Nepal to make sure her son got out safely.
It is a support system for which he is thankful.
“A lot of people get lost in the system, but that is probably the thing that kept me happy and confident throughout the time was knowing that my mom was rallying everybody that knows me and so many people know me from working there for so long,” Price said. “That that’s why in general I was afraid but I did think it was going to work out in the end because I knew all the people that can speak on my behalf and all the investigation can just show that there’s no way they can convict me or keep me in jail like they wanted to.”
Bartnikowski has traveled to 33 countries and says it was an excruciating lesson for the two about corruption foreigners can face when living abroad.
Although it won’t stop their passion for adventure, they’re both happy to be back in the Bay Area where Wolf says he will now focus on humanitarian work at home.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for Price’s expenses endured as a result of the prison stint.