JACOB KONST/Arizona Daily Wildcat UAPD Chief of Police Tony Daykin and Melissa Vito, UA Dean of Students, held a meeting Tuesday morning to inform students about travel scams.

A female student was drugged and abducted from a bar during a Labor Day weekend trip to Nogales, Mexico, UAPD and the Dean of Students reported yesterday.

Word of the abduction came yesterday when UAPD Chief Anthony Daykin and Dean of Students Melissa Vito discussed their concerns over weekend party busses that take underaged students to the Mexican border.

Vito and Daykin said the university or any organizations connected to the university do not sponsor trips of this nature. The two also requested that any students who are solicited to purchase tickets for these trips contact UAPD.

Vito and Daykin also reported that there were two male students who spent the night in jail during the same trip and had to hitchhike back to Tucson. UAPD could not verify this report because it is being handled by the Nogales, Sonora police department.

All the students have returned safely to Tucson.

Jorge Ruiz, a Nogales, Sonora police officer who works at the jail there, said through a translator that there was no record of the students staying in the jail. He also said that there was no record of the female student's abduction.

At the press conference, Vito and Daykin also warned students about drinking alcohol in Mexico.

Alcohol was the reason the students did not return, according to the Dean of Students press release.

"Apparently there was some heavy alcohol consumption," said UAPD Sgt. Eugene Mejia. "There were three students unaccounted for when the busses returned."

Promoters for Pulse New York Productions, the company that sponsored the trip, would not comment, after being advised by their attorney.

Mejia said promoters for the company had left advertisements around Coronado Residence Hall, where most of the students are underage.

The advertisements appealed to the young students who often travel to Mexico because the drinking age in Mexico is 18, Mejia said.

Although it is legal for persons under 21 to drink in Mexico, Daykin warned that after crossing the border, "If (students) still have alcohol in their system, they're breaking the law and are subject to arrest."

Nogales, Ariz. Police Chief John Kissinger said that once students cross the border, they become prime targets for theft, abuse and arrest.

"What students need to understand is that when they cross the border into Mexico, they give up all their constitutional rights to search and seizure," he said. "They need to be careful when they are in Mexico."

Rob Rothstein, a business freshman, said he and his friend Jean Paul, a management information systems freshman from Honduras, were left at the border by the bus over the Labor Day weekend when Paul was prevented from returning to the United States for not having proper identification.

Rothstein was already on the bus headed for the United States when he found out Paul was not being allowed back into the country.

He left the bus to help Paul and said representatives from Pulse New York Productions came to him and told him the buses would be leaving Nogales.

Rothstein said the representatives made sure he knew the group was leaving, but Rothstein did not return to the bus anyway.

"They didn't just ditch me," he said. "I would never expect them to wait."

Paul also said he did not blame the company for leaving him.

He said he signed a waiver and said, "It was my responsibility."

The company requires people to sign forms releasing the company from responsibility after they enter Mexico.

Paul said he had his Arizona driver license, CatCard, and a credit card, but U.S. border officials required more identification. Additionally, although his alien status was verified, he was required to pay $200 before returning to the country. This upset the intoxicated Rothstein, who said he yelled at police and was restrained and handcuffed.

Police released Rothstein after he agreed to pay the $200 fee for Paul, Rothstein said.

The two caught a ride back to Tucson in the back of a pickup truck, Rothstein said.

The Dean of Students office could not verify yesterday whether these two students were the hitchhikers mentioned at the press conference.

Vito said there are no plans to discipline underage students who participated in the trip.

"My concern is not the students who were there," she said. "We're concerned about (students') safety."

Ruiz, the Nogales police officer, said unruly American youth often make themselves targets with their behavior while in Mexico.

"The two reasons (why) Americans get into jail: drinking alcohol on the streets and fights," he said. "Usually the fights are between Americans."

Ruiz added that American students are often disrespectful to the population of the city, making it "ugly" at times.

"They just come to Nogales to party and drink," he said. "They just come to get drunk."

Kissinger said the jails in Mexico are nothing like those in the United States. He said the threat of going to jail in Mexico should deter people from acting up.

"I personally have never been in a Mexican jail, thank God," he said. "I've heard stories, and I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy."

Mejia said traveling to Mexico is risky for students because most do not recognize the dangers. He added that some students do not understand the difference between law enforcement in the United States and that in Mexico.

"Students need to remember that Mexico is a foreign country," he said. "(They) need to remember that they don't have the same rights as American citizens when they cross the border."

The Nogales, Sonora police department is handling the investigation. The Nogales, Ariz. and university police are also helping with the investigation.

÷ Orlando Ayala contributed to this report.