Human Predators Stalk Haiti's Vulnerable Kids

[Texas Mist]

Haiti judge: No release of US Baptists this week
A Haitian judge says American missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will remain in jail over the weekend as he awaits more testimony.
Posted: 4:39 PM Feb 25, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- A Haitian judge says American missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will remain in jail over the weekend as he awaits more testimony.

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says he has asked two real estate agents and a pastor from the Dominican Republic to testify in Port-au-Prince about property the missionaries rented to set up an orphanage.

That is expected Monday. If they do not show, Saint-Vil says he still expects to rule next week.

He also said Thursday he wants to question a pastor and another man from a border town.

http://www.volunteertv.com/national/headlines/85399547.html

 

[i.b.nora]

So, it seems that Judge Bernard Saint-Vil is interested in talking with Rob Chenert and Jose Hidalgo, the real estate guys. Possibly Bishop Julio Cesar Cornielle, the Catholic guy. I still think there might be some other names on that registration for the Refuge in the DR. I hope he checks that out.

Then we have Pastor Daniel Paul at The House of the Lambs of God Orphanage at Quanaminthe in Haiti. Not sure who the 'other man' from a border town might be, anyone know?

I think its good that Saint-Vil is really taking his time with the investigation. Never can tell what he might just turn up. Just can't be too careful.

 

[pinkpuddytat]

Haiti judge: No release of US Baptists this week
A Haitian judge says American missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will remain in jail over the weekend as he awaits more testimony.
QUOTE]

Good news! I'm glad to hear they're spending more time in the Haitian jail. It's likely the best chance either of them will ever have to be forced to face up to reality and motivated to change their ways. The US justice system is unlikely to have that effect on them.

 

[Missizzy]

i.b.nora--First, you are right on about that video. What in heck is going on with Coulter? Her behavior seems like that of a bored and very rude 14 year old presenting herself at Juvenile Court. I thought at first that she might be ill but that's not it at all. She's acting very inappropriately for a woman in such a dire situation. I would not want to seem rude, disrespectful or disinterested to the guards escorting me in a foreign country. Silsby, at least knows how to work the camera. She "handles" Coulter as if she was a child.

And when I used the word "henchmen" (as in lackey, "expendable adherents of the main villain") I was referring to the bodyguards who escorted Puello to court to see Silsby the first time. That was the word that sprung to my mind when I watched the very first video of Puello. They looked like self-important bouncers. Sorry if my comment was confusing.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/americas/12haiti.html

"I was skeptical of him because he arrived with four bodyguards, and I have never seen that from a lawyer,” the judge said in an interview. “I plan to get to the bottom of this right away.”

also at this link:

"Mr. Puello said he did not even have a passport."

Who knows how many passports the man has. I'm starting to wonder if the man even knows his own real name.

 

[Missizzy]

Yes, and travel can be slow when one is attempting to be very very thorough.......

 

[jeff_jones]

Judge Bernard Saint-Vil says he has asked two real estate agents and a pastor from the Dominican Republic to testify in Port-au-Prince about property the missionaries rented to set up an orphanage.

That is expected Monday. If they do not show, Saint-Vil says he still expects to rule next week.

He also said Thursday he wants to question a pastor and another man from a border town.

The full AP report specifies the border town as Ouanaminthe. That means he wants to meet the pastor Silsby went to visit in December. And maybe someone related to the pastor from Norcross?

I'm very curious if Ovando Hidalgo, Chenvert and someone from the diocese are going to come all the way to Port-au-Prince. I thought he had met them over the weekend. Maybe this is just a procedural matter, i.e. giving their testimony in a court room, in Haiti.

 

[Missizzy]

I still wonder if John Duarte figured into any of this. He's the Canadian priest who was arrested for sex abuse of boys. He was arrested in Puerto Plata in October 2009. I wonder if his leaving opened up some real estate the Catholics owned? Was he, in any way connected with Bishop Cornielle?

http://thehaitianblogger.blogspot.com/2009/10/priest-faces-charges-in-canada-for_22.html

And while we're on the subject of Father Duarte, why was he extradited to Canada? He abused Haitian boys in Haiti and fled to the DR. He was arrested in Puerto Plata but extradited to Canada? Why? Just wondering.

 

[Missizzy]

Some interesting links:

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/24/the-missionary-impulse/

The Missionary Impulse

"From out of the ordered suburbs of Idaho to the grim chaos of Haiti came 40-year-old Laura Silsby — fleeing creditors who had foreclosed on her home and ex-employees stiffed of their wages.

To the Caribbean she went with nine other self-appointed missionaries and an audacious plan: they would “gather 100 orphans from the streets,” of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, according to an outline on the Web site of Silsby’s group, New Life Children’s Refuge.

The children would be whisked across the border into the Dominican Republic. Food, shelter, legal permits: the basics would be worked out by divine blueprint. For now, they needed funds — tax deductible!

What’s more, there would soon be “opportunities for adoption,” the group mentioned, “for loving Christian parents who would otherwise not be able to afford to adopt......”

and

“Kidnapping for Jesus” is what many, including outraged Idahoans, have called it in reader response to newspaper stories about the missionaries. Silsby says it’s all a misunderstanding, and her intentions were good......"

more at link



Another thought provoking piece:

http://www.americasquarterly.org/node/1331

ILLEGAL TRAFFICKING IN HAITI AND BEYOND

"......The public scrutiny over both scandals focused on the individuals and organizations involved in the trafficking of children. But this most recent case involving American missionaries in Haiti sheds light on a very troubling and dark side of the adoption story: a globalized and growing demand of children who, for better or for worse, can often end up being trafficked into "better" lives...."

more at link

 

[Missizzy]

http://media.www.pointparkglobe.com...ionaries.Actions.Reveal.Egotism-3879296.shtml

Children have potential to pull Haiti out of rubble



"..........My issue with the actions of these American missionaries does not stem from the fact that they did not have all their paperwork in line, because they did it illegally on a whim, or even because they took 22 of the 33 children from their living parents, who willingly handed them over, because they could no longer afford to support them after the earthquake. Actually, these various issues are merely a shot in the dark when it comes down to why their actions were so underestimated and wrong.

My issue comes from the knowledge I gained on a mission trip to Haiti a year and a half ago. I am all too aware of the self-righteous thoughts that accompany mission trips to poverty stricken developing countries, because in retrospect I have carried the "save" the souls before the world moniker. The stereotype of white churchgoers flying to distant places with notions of rescuing poor, oppressed, uneducated people who just need them, is too instilled in our minds.

This stereotype is a crock of lies......."


more at link--worth reading

 

[Missizzy]

A new addition to this blog, dated Friday, Feb. 26th:

http://www.haitivox.com/

More on Puello and Pastor Sainvil of Georgia.

 

[Missizzy]

Probably nothing at all but I noticed that the constable's spokesperson for Windsor, Ontario who has released info about the arrest of John Duarte--the Catholic priest who was caught molesting Haitian boys, is named S. Coulter. Ontario's a long way from Idaho. We've never seen a connection, have we?

In almost every article which comes up on Duarte, S. Coulter's name comes up. Here's just one:

http://www.windsorstar.com/life/For...+child+molestation+charges/2151232/story.html

".......Bradie [Duarte's attorney] added, however, that he was unaware of another case where someone “was brought back to face trial in Canada for offences outside this country,” although he said he knew the Criminal Code had recently been amended to allow for prosecution for certain offences.

S. Coulter, media relations officer for the Essex detachment of the OPP, said the 44-year-old founder and former director of Hearts Together for Haiti was handed over to Canadian police by Dominican authorities Monday and left from Punta aboard an Air Canada flight. Upon arrival in Montreal, Duarte was arrested by Montreal police on a Canada-wide warrant.

Coulter said Duarte appeared briefly before a justice of the Quebec Court who authorized his continued detention and released him into the custody of the OPP.

She added the prisoner and his police escort arrived in Toronto Monday evening and later continued on to Windsor, arriving late at night. He was transported to the WIndsor Jail and held overnight."


This article also addresses the question I posted earlier about why Duarte would be extradited to Canada for his offenses and not Haiti.

 

[truckbomb]

The real question remaining, if and when Silsby is released, is whether the United States can claim jurisdiction over criminal acts perpetrated by Silsby in Haiti. We have already Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Conspiracy to Kidnap, Wire Fraud, Obstruction of Justice (lies to Haitian authorities) and others yet to be named. (Got any more, Pink?)

Extraterritorial jurisdiction has always been tricky to get ones’ arms around. Usually it requires one of those “Offense Against All crimes”, your genocide, war crimes etc.

It seems to me, however, that a firm basis for US federal jurisdiction can be made on the basis of Silsby‘s acts committed in her travels back and forth to Haiti organizing the conspiracy as well as the use of an instrumentality of interstate commerce to carry out her acts. I suggest Mail Fraud, the use of cell phone calls back and forth and passport usage. I can’t wait for the federal marshals to pick her up at the Miami Airport and escort her to a nicer jail cell there to await her enablers to bail her out.

Want to weigh in here, Pink?

 

[i.b.nora]

I hope none of the Idaho, Texas, or Kansas Baptists are planning any trips to Chile in the next few days.

 

[Missizzy]

Already said and duly noted over here at our house!! We do think alike.

 

[jeff_jones]

I hope none of the Idaho, Texas, or Kansas Baptists are planning any trips to Chile in the next few days.

I don't think they will venture into unknown territory anytime soon!
Did you notice that Jim Allen mentioned early on in one of the many interviews that he'd never left the country? Yet was at Miami airport with only 48hrs notice? That expedited passport surely wasn't cheap.
The lawyer, Hiram Sasser, gives me the creeps. If I'd been in jail for 3 weeks in Haiti, I'd stay home, enjoy my family and rest, instead of being paraded by such a clown.

 

[i.b.nora]

I don't think they will venture into unknown territory anytime soon!
Did you notice that Jim Allen mentioned early on in one of the many interviews that he'd never left the country? Yet was at Miami airport with only 48hrs notice? That expedited passport surely wasn't cheap.
The lawyer, Hiram Sasser, gives me the creeps. If I'd been in jail for 3 weeks in Haiti, I'd stay home, enjoy my family and rest, instead of being paraded by such a clown.

You know, I did take notice of the fact that he said he had never left the country before, and wondered myself about the passport deal. I also wondered about shots that one might need when traveling to the DR and to Haiti. Sometimes, depending on the type of shot, you have to get one and then get a followup a week later.
And, I couldn't agree with you more about Hiram Sasser. Its too bad that Jim is just too dumb to realize how he has allowed himself to be used by everyone.

 

[Missizzy]

I've wondered for quite some time about the schedule of recommended vaccines to enter Haiti--especially right before the rainy season. This is the CDC link we were given by Burners Without Borders (my husband got all his so he's ready to go when his time comes up):

http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/content/news-announcements/relief-workers-haiti.aspx

You are correct, i.b.nora, in that several of the vaccines are recommended to have done separately. It's just not healthy to go in and get the whole deal in one day. When our family went to Bioxi for Katrina clean-up in September, it took three days to get all the shots. We also took Tamiflu and antibiotics just in case.


On another issue, I found an audio report from a woman who recently interviewed Laura and Charisa. She describes the jail they are held in. Click on the box (WBBM/Audio Now) at the upper left hand side. And make note about what she says about Charisa. This is getting stranger by the day. Is Charisa known to have cognitive issues or a mental illness? I know she's diabetic but that wouldn't cause the behaviors that she is exhibiting. If she has mental and/or physical challenges, it seems really slimy of Laura to drag her through all this. Did anyone read any info about her before it all disappeared? Interests, education, etc? Anybody have any theories?

http://www.wbbm780.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4428950

Yes, a link might be helpful. LOL

 

[i.b.nora]

http://www.wbbm780.com/topic/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4428950

 

[pinkpuddytat]

The real question remaining, if and when Silsby is released, is whether the United States can claim jurisdiction over criminal acts perpetrated by Silsby in Haiti. . . . Want to weigh in here, Pink?

Why bother? She's committed enough criminal and civil offenses in the US to lock her up for a good while and heavily garnish any income she may have in the future. Her "business" appears to have been a financial fraud from the very beginning, or at least soon after, with plenty of interstate fraud, given that most of investors and creditors were outside Idaho. And then there's little matter of collecting donations (again from multiple states) with the false claim that her "charity" qualified for tax deductions. And even a remotely competent lawyer to dig up plenty of evidence that she induced her naive band of volunteers to accompany her overseas under false pretenses, thus causing them significant financial and reputational harm -- huge civil judgements there, and possible some criminal ones as well, since she put these people in serious physical danger through her lies to them. They just need to get one criminal financial fraud conviction on her, and she'll never be able to get any sort of personal or business credit again in her life, other than from kneecap-smashing loan sharks (and with her judgement skills, she'll probably waste no time getting involved with such "lenders"). For icing on the cake, her husband has presumably won the custody battle over their children hands down and permanently, and her children are perfectly clear on what sort of lying loser their mother is.

 

[truckbomb]

I knew I could count on Pink for his usual penetrating insight. All points well taken, civil and criminal.