What's next for Marc Fogel after being released from Russian prison
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Marc Fogel is finally back in the U.S. after three and a half years in a Russian prison. After that much time away in what was almost isolation, there is an acclimation process.
Fogel met with President Trump at the White House after he landed in D.C. on Tuesday night, and it didn't take long for the Pittsburgh-area native to grab hold of an Iron City beer.
While that certainly brought the flavor of home back to Fogel, there is still a process to get him all the way back home. Family attorney Sasha Phillips said Fogel's time in Russia was not isolation but it was pretty close.
"Where he had not been able to learn anything about what was going on here, what was going on behind the scenes, what happened. He was under the impression back in August that America forgot about him," Phillips said.
According to reports, Fogel will go to San Antonio, Texas, for a government readjustment program. Former senior State Department officials told CNN that wrongful detainees like Fogel can go through a program called Post Isolation Support Activities to help him recover.
"The State Department folks who have some experience with people who have been detained like this, I know will continue to work with Marc and his family," said Pennsylvania U.S. Congressman Chris Deluzio.
During those three and half years, Fogel missed countless memories. Some he will never be able to get back, especially with his wife and children. Now that Fogel is home, his family is working to make sure he is part of endless more.
"We're going to hang in there and try to piece his life back together. He's going to have a lot of support, a lot of support," Marc Fogel's mother Malphine Fogel said.
There's no timeline quite yet on when he will be able to return home to the Pittsburgh area.
