It sounds like the plot of a movie, but this one has a happy ending.
But happiness for Kent and Julius Malinowski came after weeks of the unthinkable.
A victim of an elaborate internet scam, 79-year-old Julius Malinowski found himself halfway across the world.
A promise of a job opportunity, complete with a seemingly legitimate employment contract and even business cards, landed him in a Korean detention center.
“We had lunch,” Julius said, recalling when things went south. “We come out of lunch, there's the police right at his car. And they arrested me. Guilty by association!”
The conditions in the jail he says were horrific.
“They have thousands of people…most of those rooms...have black mold in them,” he says.
Since his arrest in November, Julius' son Kent went on a mission to bring him home.
A Korean judge finally released Julius a few days ago.
“45 days,” he says. “It's the greatest Christmas gift. I told everybody it's the power of prayer.”
“Everyone ought to have a son like him,” Julius says.
Now back on American soil, both father and son grateful their prayers were answered.
“Wonderful to be home,” Julius says. “There's no place like the United States.”
