Updated Special Report Available - Puello Alleges Silsby Had Other Dominican Help... and Judge in Haiti probes DR links

Feb. 26


Haitian Judge Bernard Saint-Vil has decided to hold jailed Idaho Baptist missionaries Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter a bit longer, so he can question two real estate agents and a pastor in the Dominican Republic - and possibly another man (or men) in the border town of Ouanaminthe.


That is where Silsby allegedly met an Atlanta-based pastor named Jean Sainvil for the first time on January 27 - two days before her group's arrest at the border. Note: In my updated report, I question this version of events, since Laura Silsby and her group allegedly stayed in the capital all that week. The other New Lifers who have since returned to the U.S. have not spoken about any mid-week quick dash to the border -- and back....)

See the Updated Special Report here. I have included details about Sainvil and the Haitian Helpers for readers who might have seen the Tuesday report.

Sainvil identified himself to the press as a special advisor to the New Life Children's Refuge. (Note: Some press reports state that Sainvil traveled from the US to help the New Lifers carry out their project of 'rescuing' Haitian children to move them to a not-yet-completed orphanage in the Dominican Republic.).

Shortly after Silbsy's arrest, Sainvil claimed responsibility for authorizing the Idaho group to pick up Haitian children from Citron, a poor slum area in the capital, and from Callabas, a mountain town where he had prior connections. Later, Silby acknowledged to the judge that she had visited Ouanaminthe in December 2009, where she distributed gifts to children in an orphanage there. There, her main contact was Father Daniel.

As someone closely tracking this case, I suspect Judge Saint-Vil is trying to learn more about the activities of the Haitian pastors, their orphanage, and their contacts in the border town, to determine if they engaged in any illegal activities related to trafficking or helping to ferry Haitian children across the border. He is also seeking information about the role and relationship of the Dominican real estate agents with other individuals who are alleged to have been helping Silsby secure documents and help her cross the border with the Haitian children that she picked up with Sainvil's help.

Last weekend, Judge Saint-Vil and other Haitian officials were investigating not only Silsby's planned orphanage and activities in the Dominican Republic, but a separate case of 200 Haitian children taken there.

The Puello Probe

Judge Saint-Vil has sought to determine if there was a prior link between Silsby and Jorge Puello, the man who posed as the lawyer for the Silsby group before his identity was revealed as a man suspected of trafficking in El Salvador.

Puello is now a fugitive wanted by Interpol whose whereabouts are unknown. But he has been communicating with journalists via email, and this week, in a display of fugitive's chutzpah, launched his own blog -- jorge-es-innocente.com. There, he provides a full biography and accounting of his activities, with reference documents - his version of events.

Puello maintains he had no contact with Silsby prior to jumping in to represent her after her arrest -- even though he wasn't a lawyer. He was moved by her plight, he claims.

In my Special Report, based on daily communication I have with Mr. Puello, he alleges that two other Dominicans - a lawyer, and a 'General' were helping Silsby and colleagues to bring Haitian children from orphanages there into the Dominican Republic. Puello's statements suggest that a 'fee' of $150,000 pesos had been asked by the lawyer -- almost $12,000 - to make the deal happen.

Haiti Vox has not determined the truth of these allegations of OTHER Dominican individuals linked to the Silsby case. But Puello's statements of contacts helping Silsby with her paperwork and the border crossing closely match statements made by Silsby herself to this reporter when we met in Santo Domingo, on the eve of the New Lifer's entry into Haiti.

Looking ahead, Judge Saint-Vil is hoping to speak to real estate agents Jose Hidalgo and Rob Chenvert, who helped Silsby lease a 45-room hotel in the Dominican Republic from Catholic church authorities to use as a provisional orphanage, while waiting to complete an orphanage on a plot of land she bought in the DR. Silsby was working for nine months to plan her orphanage, then, she says, 'fast tracked' her plan to bring Haitian children into the Dominican Republic to her New Life Children's Refuge when the January 12 earthquake struck.

Stay tuned.