ROSARITO BEACH, Baja California — A professional, motorcycle stunt rider from Sacramento is behind bars in Tijuana, charged with evading arrest and possession of a handgun.
CJ Barham, 29, has more than 50,000 followers on Instagram, where he posts videos of the stunts he performs on his custom Harley Davidson.
He has appeared at car and motorcycle shows, doing donuts, wheelies and other tricks for the crowds.
But when he takes his show on public roadways, the stunts become illegal.
When he crossed the border last month into Mexico to attend a rally, his motorcycle riding turned into a police chase in Rosarito Beach.
“They were trying to knock CJ off of his bike with their police trucks, and one succeeded in blocking him. They jumped out and pulled the pistols on him and he went off the embankment and crashed,” said Susan Barham, CJ’s mother.
The mother does not approve of her son's stunt riding on public roads, but when she found out he was charged with possession of a handgun in Mexico, she said she knew he was being set up.
“That gun didn't surface until after CJ was taken into custody. There was no gun at the scene of the crime,” she said. “He doesn't have guns or own guns. He's just a motorcycle rider.”
The stunt rider’s father initially tried to intervene with authorities in Tijuana, according to the mother.
“His father flew down immediately when CJ said he got arrested and took some cash with him and proceeded to try to pay a fine to get him out of jail,” Susan Barham said. She and the father are divorced.
Possession of a handgun in Mexico is federal offense, so CJ was transferred to La Mesa prison in Tijuana.
Two weeks ago, his mother was able to visit him for four hours.
“He’s scared. He's never gone through anything like this. So, he's already lost probably 10 or 15 pounds just in 20 days. They eat soup every day. They don't get a solid meal,” she said.
Barham has hired a pair of attorneys in Tijuana to help her get her son released.
“First of all, we will never return to Mexico ever after this. Secondly, he comes from a family that has law enforcement. So, he has respect for them. At the same time, he doesn't want to get in trouble,” the mother said. “He may be a reckless motorcycle rider and a party boy, but he's not a criminal. He doesn't belong in a high security prison.”
Susan Barham claims the officers were angry with her son because he had evaded arrest. She said the officers beat her son and planted the gun on him.
CBS 8 reached out to Rosarito police. The department said those types of allegations would be investigated by a separate agency, called Sindicatura, which looks into alleged police abuse.