arrest

Missionaries freed in Haiti, return to US

By Xan Gwaltney

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP/UTC/The Loop) — American missionaries accused of child trafficking in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake returned home Thursday and urged the safe release of the two women left behind in a Port au Prince jail.

Four of the eight freed Americans landed Thursday at Kansas City International airport to cheers and hugs. They declined to speak to reporters, but their attorney, Caleb Stegall, read a statement in which they said they were thankful to be home.

“We hope and pray that our release will allow everyone to focus again on the dire conditions that remain in Haiti. People are still suffering and lack basic necessities,” the statement said, adding: “For those whose cases have not been resolved, we will continue to pray for their safe return.

The group’s leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny, Charisa Coulter, remained in jail in Haiti. Both arrived at a Port-au-Prince courthouse on Thursday to be questioned by a judge about their plans to set up an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. But the judge rescheduled the appearance for Friday after a translator failed to show up.

“Everything is going well,” Silsby told reporters. “I don’t know the exact day we are going to be free.”

Saint-Vil said he did not release Silsby, 47, or Coulter, 24, both of Boise, Idaho, because the two had previously visited Haiti in December and planned even before the quake to open an orphanage. After the quake, Silsby rushed to pull together the rest of the group.

Silsby’s sister in Idaho, Kim Barton, said learning that her sister could not leave Haiti was difficult.

“At this point, I don’t have any comment. I don’t know any more than you do,” Barton said.

The group was caught Jan. 29 trying to take 33 children out of Haiti without adoption certificates. The arrests came as aid officials urged a halt to short-cut adoptions in the wake of the earthquake.

Silsby originally said the children were orphans or had been abandoned. But The Associated Press determined that at least 20 were handed over willingly by their parents, who said the Baptists promised to educate their kids in the U.S. and let them visit.

The fact that the children were given up voluntarily helped convince Haitian Judge Bernard Saint-Vil to free the eight without bail on Wednesday. They were released with the understanding they will return to Haiti if the judge requests it.

The judge didn’t dismiss child trafficking charges against the eight Americans. But Stegall said he believes the group’s ordeal is behind them.

“I’ve been in regular contact with our Haitian legal team,” he said. “They assure me that charges are or will soon be dismissed.”

Haiti’s No. 2 justice official, Claudy Gassent, said he talked to the Americans before their release and felt they understood they had made a mistake.

“They know they broke the law,” he said.

The group denies the child trafficking charges, arguing the trip was a do-it-youself “rescue mission” to take child quake victims to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

The eight freed missionaries returned to the U.S. just after midnight Wednesday, flying aboard a U.S. Air Force C-130 that landed at Miami International Airport.

From Miami, one member of the group, Jim Allen, headed home to Amarillo, Texas, where a welcome home rally was planned later Thursday at the city’s civic center. Allen is scheduled to appear Friday on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

The four who returned home on the flight to Kansas City planned to travel to Topeka, Kan. They included Drew Culberth, a 35-year-old Topeka firefighter and father of four; Culberth’s brother-in-law, Paul Thompson; Thompson’s son Silas Thompson, 19; and Steve McMullin.

Stegall said the Thompsons and McMullin, all from Twin Falls, Idaho, are expected to join Culberth in Topeka for an indefinite stay.

Facebook Bust

SEATTLE (The Loop/AP) — Maxi Sopo was living the dream of a fugitive abroad, kicking back on the beaches of Cancun by day, partying in the clubs by night.

Then he did two things that are never a good idea when you’re on the run from authorities: He started posting Facebook updates about how much fun he was having — and added a former Justice Department official to his list of friends.

That kind of recklessness landed the 26-year-old native of Cameroon in a Mexico City jail, where he is awaiting extradition to the United States on bank fraud charges. Federal prosecutors say he and an associate falsely obtained more than $200,000 from Seattle-area banks and credit unions.

“He was making posts about how beautiful life is and how he was having a good time with his buddies,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Scoville, who helped find Sopo. “He was definitely not living the way we wanted him to be living, given the charges he was facing.”

Even in the hold-nothing-back world of social networking, where police search Facebook photos for evidence of underage drinking and watch YouTube videos to identify riot suspects, it’s rare that a fugitive helps authorities this much.

In status updates, Sopo said he was “loving it” and “living in paradise.”

“LIFE IS VERY SIMPLE REALLY!!!!” he wrote on June 21. “BUT SOME OF US HUMANS MAKE A MESS OF IT…REMEMBER AM JUST HERE TO HAVE FUN PARTEEEEEEE.”

Sopo, who came to the U.S. in about 2003, made a living selling roses in Seattle nightclubs until, according to prosecutors, he moved on to bank fraud. He apparently drove a rented car to Mexico in late February after learning that federal agents were investigating the fraud scheme.

Investigators initially could find no trace of him on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, and they were unable to pin down his exact location in Mexico.

But several months later, Secret Service agent Seth Reeg checked Facebook again — and up popped Maxi Sopo. His photo showed him wearing a black jacket decorated with a white lion as he stood in front of a party backdrop featuring logos of BMW and Courvoisier cognac.

Although Sopo’s profile was set to private, his list of friends was not, and Scoville started combing through it. He was surprised to see that one friend listed an affiliation with the Justice Department and sent him a message requesting a phone call.

“We figured this was a person we could probably trust to keep our inquiry discreet,” Scoville said.

The former official told Scoville he had met Sopo in Cancun’s nightclubs a few times, but did not really know him and had no idea he was a fugitive. The official learned where Sopo was living and passed that information back to Scoville, who provided it to Mexican authorities. They arrested Sopo last month.

The fugitive had been living at a nice apartment complex, working at a hotel and partying at Cancun’s beaches, pools and nightclubs, Scoville said.

Sopo does not yet have a lawyer, and it was not immediately clear how to contact him.

Prosecutors say he masterminded the bank fraud scheme with Edward Asatoorians, who was convicted by a federal jury in Seattle last week. Testimony at trial indicated the pair persuaded young co-conspirators to lie about their income to obtain loans for fabricated auto purchases, and then used the money to prop up Asatoorians’ business and to take an expensive trip to Las Vegas.

Asatoorians is expected to face at least five years in prison when he’s sentenced. If convicted, Sopo could face up to 30 years.

Citing privacy concerns, the former Justice Department official declined an interview request left with the U.S. attorney’s office.

Scoville said it was someone who left the department when the Obama administration arrived, and who had been taking some time off and organizing student trips to Cancun.

Facebook was not Sopo’s only computer activity during his time on the lam. An affidavit contains details from an instant-message conversation in March between Sopo and a low-level conspirator in the case. Sopo explained that he had fled to “the one safe place where i can actually think.”

Missionaries freed in Haiti, return to US

Facebook Bust

Recent Comments

The Loop Tag Cloud