The family of a former Seattle-area man imprisoned in Nicaragua reacted with anguish and hope today at a Kirkland presentation intended to gain support for the prisoner.

“He’s my firstborn. He’s my son. All of us will not rest until he’s back with us,” said Dr. Daisy Zachariah, the mother of Jason Puracal, who’s been held in the Central American country for 10 months.

The appeal for help was made at the Kirkland law offices of Anna M. Tolin at Carillon Point through an odd combination of circumstances that led her to become involved in the international controversy.

Tolin, who is assisting the Puracal family at no cost, took an interest in the case because she’d met Jason Puracal’s sister, Janis Puracal, at a legal conference in Ohio last year.

When she learned of the family’s ordeal, Tolin said she agreed to help.

The family’s quest to free Jason Puracal suffered a setback Monday when a Nicaraguan judge convicted him of money laundering and drug trafficking. Family members and Tolin emotionally denied those accusations at the Carillon Point gathering before reporters and television cameras.

“This is a drug case where there are no drugs,” said Tolin. “It would never have held up in a million years in a court in this country.”

Janis Puracal added that the family never expected the Monday conviction.

“We were absolutely certain Jason would be coming home today,” she said. “The judge took 15 minutes to come back with a verdict. In my mind, the entire Nicaraguan judiciary is flawed.”

Dr. Zachariah said she is particularly disturbed and feels responsible for what’s happened to her son because she encouraged him to join the Peace Corps in 2002, eventually leading him to move to Nicaragua.

“My heart is like a piece of rock,” she said. “I feel responsible because I encouraged him to go into the Peace Corps.”

The background of the despair is that Jason Puracal, 34, grew up in Tacoma and graduated from the University of Washington, then joined the Peace Corps and eventually started a real-estate business in Nicaragua. He was arrested in November and charged with 10 other defendants with taking part in an organized-crime conspiracy of drug trafficking and money laundering, said his sister.

“He did not know any of the co-defendants,” said Janis Puracal. She added that the family believes the charges were politically motivated to remove opponents to the ruling Nicaraguan government.

Jason Puracal is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 6 and faces up to 30 years in prison.

He’s being held in deplorable conditions in a dirt-floored cell infected with insects, where his health has suffered on a constant diet of beans and rice, with no fruits or vegetables, said his sister.

“It’s been making him very sick,” she added.

The family remains hopeful and determined that he still will be freed, said Janis Puracal, and a number of options are being pursued. They include appealing the conviction to a higher court in Nicaragua, seeking assistance through the U.S. State Department, and getting help from congressional leaders and other political figures.

“I’m appealing to the President of the United States to step in,” said Dr. Zachariah. “We need action, not statements.”