Human Predators Stalk Haiti's Vulnerable Kids

[i.b.nora]

That info has been there about Valerie Velasquez. But, I could never find a Puello in Plantation, but today, after the new info, there are Puellos in (and around) Miami. Actually, come to think of it, I need to see where Plantation is. I need to relook at all of that. Gotta eat first.

 

[Missizzy]

I'd also like to point out the obvious that it sure doesn't appear to me that Silsby was picking children for the express purpose of sexual exploitation or even for adoption. Not sure about Mr. Puello. She would have gone for the prettiest pre-teens or the cutest babies, if that's what she was going for. I'm so confused by her motives.

When we adopted from Haiti, believe it or not, there was a much longer wait for children with lighter skin (the term is "Mulatto" in Haiti, but no longer used in the US). We did not care about he color of our daughter's skin so had to wait only 10 months.

Petionville, which is in the hills above Port au Prince is where the Mulatto families live and there is a very strong caste system in place. I found it very offensive as we were even told that a light skinned guide would cost us more. As if we cared!! We just wanted a good guide. My Lord, most of our family is black. I was very taken back by the inherent focus on skin tone within the country.

BTW, I can't find much about MPuello that is translated. I'm afraid I'm missing something. And who is Valerie Velasquez? How many wives does this guy have? Sephardic Jews don't believe in plural marriage. He's not re-inventing it, is he, to his own purposes as he did with his Presidency?

 

[Missizzy]

Plantation, FL is 29 miles north of Miami, in Broward County.

 

[i.b.nora]

I found a Valerie Velasquez in Broward County, maybe now in Sunrise, Florida. Anyhow, she was married to a Jorge Torres and she filed for divorce in 2005.

Link

 

[Texas Mist]

The parents of a self-styled lawyer advising Americans jailed in Haiti said he's the same person wanted for child trafficking in El Salvador.

Posted on Saturday, 02.13.10

<snip>

The mother and stepfather of Jorge Anibal Torres Puello told The Miami Herald in an extensive interview Saturday the fugitive wanted by Salvadoran police was their son, who has been advising the church volunteers in the unfolding legal drama.

``That's him,'' a teary Ana Puello said from her modest home in the outskirts of Santo Domingo. ``But those things they say about him, I doubt they're true . . . He told me, `Mami, I swear I didn't.' He would never hurt a child.''

Though his wife was convicted in the case, Torres Puello left the country -- wanted by Salvadoran police -- before ending up in Haiti.

more here

http://www.miamiherald.com/582/story/1479538.html

 

[i.b.nora]

Okay, here it is folks, 'will the real Jorge Puello stand up!'

Adoption `lawyer' tied to child sex case
The parents of a self-styled lawyer advising Americans jailed in Haiti said he's the same person wanted for child trafficking in El Salvador.
Miami Herald
BY PATRICIA MAZZEI, MICHAEL SALLAH AND GERARDO REYES
[email protected]

Since Texas Mist already posted, I will change mine and include this small snippet from the article:

"A spokeswoman for Universidad del Caribe in Santo Domingo, where his mother said her son had taken some legal courses, said Torres Puello had enrolled twice for classes, in 2000 and 2007, but had either withdrawn or never showed up to class.

On his voicemail, Torres Puello describes himself, in English, as an attorney-at-law.

While Torres Puello has been telling reporters during recent interviews that he is convert to Judaism and is president of the Sephardic Jewish Community in the Dominican Republic, several Jewish leaders say they have never heard of him.

``I don't know any Jews by that name,'' said Rabbi Shimon Pelman, head of the Chabad Lubavitch of the Dominican Republic.

``The only Jewish community in the Dominican Republic is the chabad community or the Centro Israelita community. I know everybody, and he doesn't exist.'' "

Much, much more at the link . . .

 

[i.b.nora]

This is kind of out of sync now but some might be interested. This is the blog of the woman who ran into Laura Silsby and the Baptists before they went on their kidnapping spree.

http://www.haitivox.com/2010/02/more-suspicious-ties-in-haiti.html

 

[Missizzy]

So how many wives can a guy have? Notice that his mother refers to Ana Josepha as his wife. He's listed as being married to a Valerie and to a Martha in Broward County. IMO, it's just plain LOW to lie to your Momma.

"In the interview with The Herald, Torres Puello's mother confirmed that her son's wife -- Ana Josefa Galvarina Ramirez Orellana -- was already convicted in the case and remains in jail in San Salvador.

Police broke up the ring last year after three children, 14, 15 and 16, escaped from a house in El Salvador and went to the police to report they had been forced to pose naked to promote the enterprise.

Torres Puello managed to leave the country, but his wife was arrested.

His mother said that for most of his adult life, Torres Puello has moved around to different places -- including living in Miami in the 1990s -- sometimes getting into trouble."

and

"...by 1995 he married his first wife, Valerie Sara Ramos Velasquez, public records show."

and

"....At some point he joined the U.S. Army, his mother said, displaying a photograph of Torres Puello in uniform posing next to an Army tank."

and

"His mother said her son has served federal prison time in the United States. Records show he was indicted for bank fraud by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia in 1998 and was released from prison in January 2002."

and

"By 2005, he had divorced his first wife, records show, and eventually remarried Ramirez -- who already had several children -- living in Puerto Rico and possibly even Canada before returning to Santo Domingo a few years ago and buying a house with a pool."

and

"Since then, Torres Puello has apparently worked as a legal consultant, though his parents and a cousin said he's not a licensed attorney."

and

"While Torres Puello has been telling reporters during recent interviews that he is convert to Judaism and is president of the Sephardic Jewish Community in the Dominican Republic, several Jewish leaders say they have never heard of him."

So, where does this put Martha Puello in the picture? She's the one who's losing a house with him in Broward County to foreclosure. I'm not getting why he would bring such intense scrutiny on himself unless Silsby has something big on him. Surely he can't have wanted to show his face. The charges he's facing in El Salvador do not sound minor.

I don't know about you guys, but people like this wear me out. If it's not bipolar, it's some other mental illness. His brain is running faster than his body can keep up. He's going to burn himself out....soon. But how did he cross paths with Silsby?

Does anyone know if any of the Baptists back in Idaho actually wired this guy any funds? Oh, I hope not.

Thank God, according to his family, he never wore jeans. I couldn't have dealt with that...given everything else.

 

[i.b.nora]

And, yet another article on poor mixed up Laura Silsby.

Grand ambitions: Laura Silsby has tackled life with faith in God and herself

By KATY MOELLER - [email protected]
Published: 02/13/10

"The 40-year-old mother of three — including an adult son from a first marriage — grew up in a devoutly religious family. Her father, John Sander, was a minister in the Wesleyan Holiness Church.

“Her dad has always had a heart for missionary work. In fact, his first calling was to be a missionary,” said Silsby’s cousin, Dave Hecker, a logger in Duluth, Minn., who also grew up in the church.

Sander, who owns a denture-making business in Twin Falls, has done missionary work in Haiti. So perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that his daughter sought to help Haitian orphans by planning to build an orphanage in the nearby Dominican Republic — also the site of her eldest son’s wedding this past summer.

Sander was called to serve as a minister in communities throughout the West, including California and Idaho. Laura, the second of three children, was born in Farmington, N.M., in August 1969.

The lifestyle of church members is strict and old-fashioned, Hecker said: no TV, no dancing and no alcohol. Women are expected to wear dresses but not jewelry or makeup; they don’t cut their hair.

“It’s about humility and modesty,” Hecker explained."

And, blah, blah, blah, more . . .

 

[i.b.nora]

Izzy, I am wondering if it is possible that the Jorge Puella that is losing his house in Florida is maybe the real father of this Jorge Puella, and Martha may be a step mother?

Anyhow, this Jorge reminds me of those people who go around passing themselves off as decorated war heroes, or surgeons, or people they aren't.

 

[Missizzy]

i.b.nora--I actually think the blog by Anne-christine d'Adesky--Haitivox--is priceless. Finally a breath of fresh air and someone I feel who we can trust. She seems to have no private agendas and is just calling it as she sees it.

I think we need to keep checking this blog over the course of the next few days. Excellent find.

 

[Missizzy]

You might be right about the house in Florida belonging to a parent. It sounds as if Jorge has milked everybody dry.

 

[Missizzy]

I'm closing for the night. One more time...unmedicated bipolar. This isn't going to slow down until she does. Give it a little time and the pendulum will swing. She'll become depressed and emotional.

Then, and only then, will anyone be able to step in and help. Lots of amazing sleuthing, guys. I had to hold onto my hat.

 

[pinkpuddytat]

Silsby said that she had acquired land in Magante and that is where she intended to build her "orphanage". However, along comes the earthquake so she puts her plan in action and gets help leasing the parts of that hotel/getaway/resort/ near the beach in Cabarete for 6 months, from the Catholics. So, the immediate plan was to spirit the children away to Cabarete.

But I also seem to recall the mayor of that town telling journalists she'd approached him about buying land for this project some months ago, but that the discussions had fallen through due to legal problems. I don't think it's clear that she'd even gotten as far as buying land (though she might have told donors back in Idaho that she had).

 

[jeriwho]

I'd also like to point out the obvious that it sure doesn't appear to me that Silsby was picking children for the express purpose of sexual exploitation or even for adoption. Not sure about Mr. Puello. She would have gone for the prettiest pre-teens or the cutest babies, if that's what she was going for. I'm so confused by her motives.

What Silsby needed was a truckload of kids, situated at her "orphanage", which would have provided her the opportunity for a photo shoot so that she could make up brochures and send them to churches in the US to drum up money. I don't think she was expressly hunting children to sell. I think she realized that one sure way of raking in $$$ was to present herself and her "work" to charitable Americans, under the legitimacy of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Even so, the fate of the children themselves, in the custody of a woman who at heart is indifferent to them, across a national border and far from their parents, would have been grim at best.

 

[i.b.nora]

There was a word I was looking for and it took until today to remember it. Imposter is the word.

Read this article about Ferdinand "Waldo" Demara: The Great Impostor

The similarities to Jorge Puello are striking.

snip

"He was an audacious fake and a master deceiver, and he remains one of the most intriguing figures in Canada's naval history. Not bad for a man who was neither a sailor nor a Canadian citizen."

After his fakery was uncovered: "Ever resilient, Demara bounced back, going on to forge a series of new personas including law student, cancer researcher, deputy sheriff, and teacher. This last escapade resulted in arrest and six months in prison."

"When asked to describe his motives, Demara is said to have responded: "Rascality, pure rascality."

Ferdinand "Waldo" Demara died in 1982."

 

[pinkpuddytat]

What Silsby needed was a truckload of kids, situated at her "orphanage", which would have provided her the opportunity for a photo shoot so that she could make up brochures and send them to churches in the US to drum up money. I don't think she was expressly hunting children to sell. I think she realized that one sure way of raking in $$$ was to present herself and her "work" to charitable Americans, under the legitimacy of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Even so, the fate of the children themselves, in the custody of a woman who at heart is indifferent to them, across a national border and far from their parents, would have been grim at best.

Exactly. The way this group was going about "helping" children made them sitting ducks for being co-opted by child traffickers with truly horrific plans for the children. I don't believe for a second Sean Lankford's assumption that Puello had no relationship with Silsby & Co before they got arrested and he "volunteered" to help them. There would be absolutely no reason for someone with an Interpol warrant out for him for human/child trafficking to jump into courtroom work on this high profile case, unless he had to do it to try to save his own already-involved skin.

 

[i.b.nora]

But I also seem to recall the mayor of that town telling journalists she'd approached him about buying land for this project some months ago, but that the discussions had fallen through due to legal problems. I don't think it's clear that she'd even gotten as far as buying land (though she might have told donors back in Idaho that she had).

Yes, in a New York Times article:
"The missionaries’ account of their activities in the Dominican Republic was hard to verify. They said they had been in the process of buying land and building a complex in Magante, on the north coast of the country.

Mayor Aniceto Balbuena said that he had been approached by two women about building an orphanage, but that the idea had fallen through because of a legal entanglement."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/03/world/americas/03orphans.html

 

[pinkpuddytat]

Thank God, according to his family, he never wore jeans. I couldn't have dealt with that...given everything else.

LOL! And he also "never came home late".

His poor mother is really grasping at straws, trying to offset the mountain of negatives about her dear boy: "he began dating a stripper who was 10 years older" . . . During a fight, he moved out of the house -- calling the North Bay Village police to complain about his mother" . . . "he was arrested in Miami in November 1999 for carrying false identification -- a felony -- but it's not clear whether he appeared in court. Once the bond was revoked, a warrant was issued." . . . "served federal prison time in the United States. Records show he was indicted for bank fraud by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia in 1998 and was released from prison in January 2002 . . . on parole after Cerminara traveled to the United States to testify on his behalf." . . . "It's not clear whether he violated the terms of his release, but a warrant was issued ten months later and he is now wanted by the U.S. Marshals Service." . . . "lived in El Salvador until ``a few long months ago,'' when he called his mother from Guatemala.``He said, `Mami, I'm in trouble. Please send me a ticket home,' '' she said. She and her husband had to take out a loan to pay for it, but they did."

But mom tries to console herself that he never wore jeans, never came home late, and look at this nice picture of him in his Army uniform posing next to a tank. If any offspring of mine ever amassed a resume half this outrageous, he wouldn't have my phone number and would be under a no-nonsense warning that he'd be held at gunpoint for police if he ever turned up on my property.

Mama and Step-papa Cerminaro are in just as urgent of need reality-awareness training as Silsby's volunteers and their families (excepting Jim Allen's family, who had the sense to turn down Puello's "offer" at the outset).

 

[Missizzy]

Given Laura's strict upbringing, I'm shocked that she's wearing form fitting (albeit longer) shorts in all the photos we've seen of her. I know, tacky. The photo of her holding onto a Haitian guard and giggling sets my teeth on edge.

I also did not realize that she has a 5 year old. IMO, you do not leave your baby to go off on a mission like this unless the Dad is supportive and the family has stepped in to help. Once again, I think it's clear that Laura thinks only of herself. And if Coulter is truly her nanny, why didn't she stay with the kids in Idaho?

ITA about the staged photos for the fund-raising brochures. Glad that was brought up. In fact a "rag-tag" group would be far better for those purposes. Isn't it interesting that, in her plan, she breaks just about every rule in the book of "best practice" for children's homes? Most group homes or orphanages specialize in an age, sex, or in special needs. There's a practical reason for this. It works far better and is safer for the children!!

There was absolutely no consideration afforded to an individual child. Once they failed her by being kicked off the bus, she snatched their new toys back. That vision stays with me. These kids have suffered trauma upon trauma and then a "nice Baptist lady" comes down and compounds their misery for them.

Years ago, I read something about bipolar that I've never forgotten. I'll see if I can find a link. The hypothesis is that those who have this disorder can be tremendously fractured and frenzied, especially when in the manic phase. It is only when they are successful in bringing those around them to their own level of frenzy that they feel comfortable. A comparison was made with a single person being uncomfortable as the only one to laugh in a packed movie theater. We are much more comfortable when everyone is laughing with us. JMO