Americans detained Haiti

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Haiti Seeks 6 Months for US Missionary

Alleged child-grabber Laura Silsby on trial

(Newser) - Baptist missionary Laura Silsby knew she was breaking the law when she tried to take 33 children out of Haiti, and she deserves to spend at least 6 months in jail, the prosecutor said as her trial began yesterday. The Idaho woman testified that she genuinely believed that the children—...

Haitian Judge Drops Charges Against Most Missionaries

Two still face 'irregular trip' charges

(Newser) - A Haitian judge said today that he has dismissed kidnapping and criminal association charges against 10 American missionaries detained for trying to take a busload of children out of the country after the Jan. 12 earthquake. But Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said Laura Silsby, the last of the 10 missionaries jailed...

Freed Missionaries Land in Miami

Two remain in Haitian custody

(Newser) - Eight bedraggled, sweat-stained American missionaries landed in Miami early this morning aboard a military cargo plane after nearly three weeks in a Haitian jail. "They're very tired," said Caleb Stegall, a district attorney in Kansas who has been helping some of the missionaries. "They've had quite an...

Haiti Judge Frees 8 of 10 Americans

Two will remain behind for further questioning

(Newser) - A Haitian judge says he decided to free 8 of 10 Americans charged with child kidnapping after their parents testified they voluntarily handed their children over to the missionaries. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says the 8 are free to leave today without bail or other conditions. He says he still wants...

Adviser to US Missionaries on Run From Police

Jorge Puello admits he is the man being sought in El Salvador

(Newser) - Dominican police and US agents are trying to hunt down Jorge Puello, the Dominican man who was serving as legal adviser to the American missionaries jailed in Haiti. Puello, who originally had denied ever having been to El Salvador, now admits to the AP that he is wanted in El...

Haiti Probes Adviser to US Missionaries

Jorge Puello suspected of sex trafficking; Americans stay in jail

(Newser) - Police in El Salvador suspect the man advising the 10 American missionaries being detained in Haiti may also be the leader of a sex trafficking ring. When the Haitian judge presiding over the Americans’ case got wind of the investigation yesterday, he said he’d launch his own inquiry into...

Haiti Judge Recommends Freeing Americans
 Haiti Judge Recommends 
 Freeing Americans 
UPDATED
Feb 11, 2010 10:22 AM CST

Haiti Judge Recommends Freeing Americans

Prosecutor has chance to agree or object

(Newser) - The Haitian judge deciding whether 10 US missionaries should face trial on charges of trying to take a busload of children out of the country says he will recommend they be released. Judge Bernard Saint-Vil finished questioning the Americans yesterday. He now must send his recommendation to the prosecutor, who...

Report: Haiti Judge Will Free Americans

Baptist missionaries being held on kidnapping charges

(Newser) - A judge in Haiti has decided to release the 10 Americans being held on kidnapping charges, a judicial source tells Reuters . The Americans, accused of trying to spirit 33 Haitian children out of the country after the earthquake, could go free as early as tomorrow. They've been in jail since...

Parents Reunite With Haitian 'Orphans' Taken by US Group

Haitian prosecutor says Baptists could face conspiracy charges

(Newser) - As 10 Americans wait in a Haitian jail for a court hearing, which a prosecutor says could include criminal conspiracy charges, the children they are accused of trying to spirit out of the country illegally are being reunited with parents. “Many are saying that we have parents,” the...

Haitian Kids Taken by Baptists Weren't Orphans

But desperate families are giving up kids voluntarily to get them out

(Newser) - Many of the 33 children a group of American Baptists tried to take out of Haiti without the proper documentation aren't orphans at all, and officials at an orphanage where the children were taken after the Americans were arrested are trying to reunite them with their families. But the reality...

10 Americans Accused of Trafficking Haitian Orphans

We were taking kids to shelter, group says

(Newser) - Ten Americans arrested on suspicion of child trafficking say their detention is merely a misunderstanding over documentation. The 5 men and 5 women, from an Idaho charity called New Life Children's Refuge, were detained by Haitian police as they tried to take 33 earthquake orphans to a temporary shelter in...

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