The 10 Americans from Idaho who have been held in Haiti jail were charged Thursday with criminal abduction for trying to take 33 Haitian children out of the country. The charges carry a prison term of up to 15 years.
Thursday’s after prosecutors questioned the Americans in a closed-door hearing, they were led from the courthouse back to the jail, and did not speak to reporters.
Laura Silsby, an apparent leader of the group and helped organize the trip to Haiti, said before the hearing: “We’re just trusting God for a positive outcome.” The group of Americans stated that they were trying to get orphaned children out of the country in order to help them after Haiti suffered a massive earthquake several weeks ago.
Most of the 10 Americans are part of Baptist group from Idaho and hired lawyer Edwin Coq said that 9 of his 10 clients were “completely innocent,” but that “if the judiciary were to keep one, it could be the leader of the group.” Although he didn’t mention her name, he appeared to reference Laura Silsby.
“I’m trying to get them all free but I don’t yet know what’s going to happen,” Edwin Coq is a Haitian lawyer in Port-au-Prince.
One week ago the Americans were arrested when they attempted to take 33 Haitian children who did not have passports or paperwork out of the country. They said that they were trying to get them to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
Several of the children did not want to go with the American group, and several children told them that their parents were still alive. Some of the Haitian parents of the children told CNN that they wanted their children to go with the Americans in hopes that they would have a better life.
An eye doctor from Utah, Dr. Branson Call returned Monday from Haiti after an annual trip to help the people of Haiti. Dr. Call was in Haiti when the earthquake struck and amazingly survived, even though 30 medical students in the building next door all died. For several days he was unable to contact his family or friends because there wasn’t phone service or internet. His family wasn’t even sure he was alive. He spent several days trying to help the wounded before getting onto a plane to the Dominic Republic and contacting his family, according to ABC 4.
The Salt Lake City based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) has responded and said that no missionaries from the US are in Haiti, but that an immediate relief project has begun to provide aid. In Haiti, the Caribbean Area Presidency of the LDS Church also provided immediate relief to the people there. To donate to the LDS Church aid for Haiti, go to LDS.org. For more information on how the LDS Church is helping in Haiti, click here. For more ways to donate to the relief efforts in Haiti, click here. For stories of incredible survival in Haiti, see the articles on the left.
To see a slideshow of the earthquake disaster photos in Haiti, click here.
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Source: The Associated Press and CNN
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