US Man Marks Five Years in Cuban Prison: Paid 'Terrible Price'

A Maryland contractor on Wednesday marked five years of imprisonment in Cuba, and his wife urged authorities to release him, saying he 'has paid a terrible price' and was 'literally wasting away' in confinement.

Alan Gross, 65, was arrested in Havana in 2009 and sentenced to 15 years for allegedly bringing communications equipment into the communist-run country while working as a subcontractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development. Cuba's President Raul Castro called him a spy, and Cuban officials said Gross was contracted to work for American intelligence services - a charge denied by Gross and the U.S. government.

Diplomatic overtures and family appeals have failed to secure the release of Gross, whose wife, Judy, said he had difficulty walking, had lost more than 100 pounds during his imprisonment and was now mostly blind in his right eye. Gross' family said he was bringing expanded Internet access to Cuba's small Jewish community when he was detained.

'Enough is enough,' Judy Gross said in a statement. 'My husband has paid a terrible price for serving his country and community. Alan is resolved that he will not endure another year imprisoned in Cuba, and I am afraid that we are at the end. After five years of literally wasting away, Alan is done. It is time for President Obama to bring Alan back to the United States now; otherwise it will be too late.'

Gross earlier this year said goodbye to his wife and daughter. He has also refused most other visitors though he did meet earlier in November with two U.S. Senators.

The State Department called for the immediate release of Gross, calling his detention 'unjustified imprisonment in difficult conditions.'

'It is gravely disappointing, especially in light of its professed goal of providing Cubans with internet access, that the Cuban government has not allowed Mr. Gross to return to his family, where he belongs,' Marie Harf, deputy spokeswoman, said in a statement.

IN-DEPTH

First published December 2 2014, 9:18 PM

Miranda Leitsinger

Miranda Leitsinger is a reporter at NBC News. She started this role in February 2011. Leitsinger is responsible for long-term enterprise and breaking news coverage. Her beats include recovery from natural disasters and mass shootings, the LGBT community, income inequality, immigration and the Boy Scouts. Leitsinger previously worked at CNN.com in Hong Kong as a digital producer, where she collaborated with the network's television staff in Asia to produce enterprise stories for the website. Before that she worked as a reporter at news3blog.blogspot.com for seven years in various cities, including New York, Miami, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Bangkok, Thailand, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. She covered the aftermath of 9/11 in Florida, the 2004 tsunami in Asia, the initial military tribunal at Guantanamo and Cambodia's bid to recover from genocide and the ensuing decades of civil war.Leitsinger, a San Francisco native, lives in New York.