She spent 23 days jailed and remains on house arrest while prosecutors weigh a plea.
ARGYLE, TX — A retired Dallas police detective is pressing Panamanian officials and U.S. authorities for help after his daughter was arrested when a loaded handgun was found in her checked luggage, a case he says was a mistake that could bring a mandatory 12-year prison sentence.
Paul Inman, 56, says his daughter, Sabrina Underwood, 34, did not know the firearm was in a borrowed suitcase when she flew to Panama during the holidays to visit a family friend. Underwood, a San Antonio mother of three, spent more than three weeks in a Panamanian prison before being moved to house arrest, and Inman says prosecutors have offered a plea agreement that still carries the full 12-year term.
Inman, who worked 28 years for the Dallas Police Department, says he has turned his retirement into what he calls a full-time investigation, collecting records, statements and travel details he hopes will persuade Panamanian authorities to treat the incident as an accident rather than trafficking. “I thought that life was over, now I’m doing everything I can to defend this situation for my daughter,” Inman said in an interview with a Texas television station.
Underwood traveled from Nashville to Houston and then on to Panama, according to interviews she and her supporters have given to local media. She said she expected only a routine bag check when officials scanned her luggage after she arrived. “When I arrived and went through, they scanned the baggage, and they found a loaded weapon in my baggage,” Underwood said. “I thought they just pulled me aside to check my medication, and I ended up with the biggest surprise of my life.”
Inman says the gun belongs to Underwood’s husband, a U.S. military service member and gun enthusiast. Underwood has said her husband submitted a letter to Panamanian authorities stating the firearm was his. Inman argues the placement of the weapon supports his claim that there was no effort to conceal it. “The gun was on the outside bag, not in her clothing, not concealed, not in the zipper of the outside bag,” he said. “Those are the things we have to show to them that say, ‘Hey, look, if she’s smuggling, wouldn’t she have concealed something in the bag, not on the outside?’”
Panamanian prosecutors have not publicly commented on the case in recent days, and details about the charge and the evidence being weighed have been limited to what family members and advocates have described. Underwood’s supporters say she is accused under a law that treats bringing a firearm into the country without proper authorization as a serious felony, even when the traveler says it was unintentional. Her legal team has said discussions toward a possible agreement are ongoing while she remains confined under house arrest.
The arrest has also ignited questions about how the handgun went undetected earlier in the trip. Inman and a San Antonio-based advocate assisting the family say the bag passed through U.S. airports before the gun was discovered in Panama, raising concerns about screening and handling. “Why the weapon went through the U.S., Tennessee, and then Houston, and how that happened,” said Esteban Bliss, a retired U.S. Army veteran who has been helping the family. Bliss is the founder of the You Served We Care Foundation, a nonprofit that supports U.S. military veterans living in Latin America, and he said he became involved within hours because Underwood is a military spouse.
Airport security experts say screening can differ depending on where a bag is checked, where it is screened, and what system flags an item for secondary inspection. A security adviser who represents a scanning technology company in Panama told a San Antonio TV station that the firearm was not detected until it reached customs in Panama. He said the technology can identify threats but depends heavily on training and the skill of operators who interpret images, adding that officials were surprised the gun had not been stopped earlier.
In the United States, the Transportation Security Administration regularly reports finding firearms at passenger checkpoints, typically when travelers bring guns into carry-on bags. The agency said it intercepted 6,678 firearms nationwide at airport checkpoints in 2024, and about 94% were loaded. Those figures reflect discoveries at screening points for passengers entering secure areas, not the checked-baggage process, and the agency’s rules require firearms in checked bags to be unloaded, locked in a hard-sided case, and declared at check-in.
Underwood’s case, however, centers on what happened after she landed overseas. Inman says his daughter was taken into custody at the airport and later moved into a prison environment that frightened her and separated her from her children. “So you’re thrown in with convicted murderers, drug dealers, gangsters,” Underwood said of her time in custody. She told the same station that the hardest part has been being away from her kids, saying they are usually “attached to my hip.”
Inman says the family is trying to avoid a long sentence that would stretch across much of his grandchildren’s childhood. He said Underwood’s children are 14, 11 and 8, and he worries they would be adults by the time she could return home if she serves 12 years. “If she does 12 years, that would be devastating for the family, devastating,” Inman said. “I don’t think emotionally she can make it.”
He also says he has struggled to get meaningful assistance from U.S. officials, leaving him to navigate a foreign legal system largely on his own. Families in overseas criminal cases often seek consular support for welfare checks and communication, but U.S. diplomats generally cannot intervene in court proceedings or force local authorities to drop charges. Inman said he is focused on presenting Panamanian officials with evidence of lack of intent, including travel records, statements from relatives, and information about the luggage and how it was packed.
Bliss said he arranged for legal help soon after the arrest and has pushed for a resolution that would let Underwood return to the United States. “I received a call telling me that an American was arrested at the airport. She got caught with a weapon,” Bliss said. “Immediately, I called one of my lawyers and sent them to the airport.” He has described the potential penalty as severe under Panamanian law and said the case has dragged on for weeks while the family waits for a decision.
For Inman, the effort has become personal and urgent. He describes his daughter as outgoing and quick to connect with people, and he fears that a single mistake could define the rest of her life. “She makes a friend wherever she goes,” he said. “It’s just a sad mistake, but it could cost her dearly, and that’s what I’m fearful of.”
As of Friday, Underwood remained on house arrest in Panama while negotiations and investigative steps continued, according to family statements in local media reports. Inman said the next milestone is whether prosecutors will reduce the charge or agree to a resolution that avoids the 12-year term, a decision the family hopes will come in the coming days.
Author note: Last updated February 7, 2026.