CONNECTICUT, USA — Officials from the U.S. and Russia made an agreement Wednesday to exchange two prisoners, including Texas native Trevor Reed.
Reed, of Granbury, was released from jail in Moscow after almost three years. The Marine veteran was arrested in 2019 after Russian authorities said he assaulted an officer while being driven to a police station after a night of heavy drinking.
Reed's father told ABC News that his son was flown to Turkey where he was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko.
Yaroshenko was a pilot and aviation expert from Russia. He's now halfway through a 20-year sentence for conspiring to bring $100 million worth of cocaine to the U.S., according to the Department of Justice.
Documents say the former pilot also brought "thousand-kilogram" quantities throughout South America, Africa and Europe. Evidence from Yaroshenko's court trial also suggests that he and another man tried to bribe government officials in Liberia so they could use the country as a "trans-shipment point" for drug operations.
Yaroshenko was arrested in Liberia back in 2010 and was brought to the U.S. to face trafficking charges. He was sentenced for 20 years in 2011. DOJ documents also said he would be under supervised release for another five years.
Some U.S. officials in who were involved in convicting Yaroshenko have since been banned from entering Russia. In 2013, the Associated Press reported that 18 Americans that were banned after the U.S. imposed sanctions on 18 Russians.
It's not clear what's next for Yaroshenko after he arrives back in Russia.
Trevor Reed's father spoke for his son on what it was like when he and the former Russian pilot traded places on a tarmac in Turkey.
"He said it was like a movie," Joey Reed said. "They walked past each other like in a spy swap."
Reed has since boarded a flight for the U.S. His father told ABC News that doctors were assessing him over the plane.
Note: The following video was uploaded before Trevor Reed's release: