Friday, July 11, 2008 at 12:33 p.m.
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CONWAY, S.C. (AP) -- A South Carolina pastor held in jail in Russia for several months is back home in South Carolina.
The Sun-News of Myrtle Beach reported Rev. Phillip Miles of Christ Community Church in Conway got his exit visa Wednesday and returned home Thursday.
The newspaper cited an e-mail from Dominic Starr, the Myrtle Beach attorney who has acted as a spokesman for the church since Miles was jailed for carrying ammunition into Russia. Starr says Miles' return was kept secret so the family could have a private reception.
A return party was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Friday at the church.
He flew to Moscow in January with a box of hunting-rifle ammunition in his luggage, intended as a gift for a pastor he was visiting. Miles was convicted of smuggling April 21 and was sentenced to more than three years in prison.
A Moscow city appeals court said June 23 he could be released.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
