'Lawyer' for U.S. missionaries in Haiti arrested

[demmiblue]

SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic (AP) — A fugitive who once acted as the lawyer for U.S. Baptist missionaries accused of kidnapping 33 Haitian children was arrested on human-trafficking charges, authorities said Friday.

Jorge Puello, 32, was detained as he left a McDonald's restaurant late Thursday in the Dominican capital, Santo Domingo, the National Drug Control Agency said.

Agency spokesman Roberto Lebron said he did not know whether Puello would be extradited to the U.S., where he is wanted on trafficking and smuggling charges, or El Salvador, where authorities say he led a prostitution ring.

His mother, Soledad Puello, had told The Associated Press earlier Thursday that she and others were negotiating with Salvadoran prosecutors for her son to turn himself in.

Puello initially served as the Americans' legal adviser and spokesman, but authorities later identified him as the man wanted on an Interpol warrant requested by authorities in El Salvador.


More: http://www.wxyz.com/news/national/story/Lawyer-for-U-S-missionaries-in-Haiti-arrested/QaATLe6VE0Oc0npsC-cSeg.cspx

[louis-t]

1. What the...?

[demmiblue]

5. I know... the whole situation is completely bizarre.

[ArcticFox]

2. Could those missionaries really be so naive?

First they think it's okay to just take kids out of their country, then they hire the leader of a child prostitution ring to represent them? Isn't the simpler explanation that they were mixed up in human trafficing (whether each of them knew it or not)?

[Hekate]

3. It's very possible that they ARE that naive -- or WERE. Convinced of the rightness of their cause...

... and led astray by a callous con-man. Some Americans are both trusting (of those who hold a Bible in their hands, especially) and vastly ignorant of the world beyond our borders.

But as the old saying has it: Ignorance of the law is no excuse. Good luck to them, and I mean it sincerely.

Hekate

[NoPasaran]

4. Busted leaving McDonalds

I'm loving it!