Haiti prosecutor seeks 6-month sentence for U.S. missionary

Thanks for trying to help out, Now your going to jail.

clipped from www.cnn.com (CNN) -- A Haitian prosecutor asked for a six-month prison sentence Thursday for an American missionary accused of trying to take nearly three dozen children out of the country after a devastating and deadly earthquake in January. Laura Silsby's attorney, Chiller Roy, said the judge is expected to make a ruling in the next few days. Silsby was charged with trying to arrange "irregular travel" for 33 children she planned to take to an orphanage she was building in the Dominican Republic. She was jailed January 29, along with nine other American missionaries who were later released.

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Freed from Haiti, missionary returns 'with mixed emotions'

clipped from www.cnn.com Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- After more than a month in a Haitian jail, an American missionary was free Monday night, looking forward to a hot shower and a long night in bed on home soil. But Charisa Coulter's heart remains in Haiti, her father said, because her best friend, Laura Silsby is now alone behind bars. "She came back with mixed emotions," Mel Coulter told CNN affiliate WSVN in Miami, Florida. Coulter is staying in a hotel by herself, her father said. He did not know when she might return home to Boise, Idaho. He said his daughter had been through a "trying experience" and was welcoming the solitude. Coulter, Silsby and eight other Americans had been detained in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping 33 children after the killer earthquake January 12. Silsby said she was "very happy that Charisa went home today." She expected her freedom would soon follow. "I came here to help these children," she said.

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American missionary held in Haiti released

clipped from www.cnn.com Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Charisa Coulter, one of two American missionaries detained for more than a month in Haiti on suspicion of kidnapping 33 children after January 12's devastating earthquake, was released Monday. She walked out of judicial police headquarters and headed to the nearby airport Monday afternoon. Attorneys Chillier Roi and Ricardo Chachoute, who are representing Coulter and the American who still is being detained, Laura Silsby, earlier told CNN that the judge had OK'd Coulter's release. Silsby and Coulter were among 10 Americans stopped by Haitian authorities on January 29 as they tried to cross the Haiti-Dominican Republic border with 33 children. Authorities said the group didn't have proper legal documentation. The 10 Americans, many of whom belong to a Baptist church in Idaho, have said they were trying to help the children get to a safe place after the 7.0-magnitude earthquake flattened cities and towns in Haiti.

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Freed American missionaries fly out of Haiti

clipped from uk.news.yahoo.com Eight American missionaries flew out of Haiti on Wednesday after a judge ordered them freed, but two of their colleagues remained in detention for further questioning on charges of kidnapping children. Skip related content The 10 Americans, most of whom are members of a Baptist Church in Idaho, were arrested last month on charges that they tried to take 33 Haitian children out of the country without proper documentation after the devastating January 12 earthquake in Haiti. The judge found no evidence of criminal intent among the eight who were freed. But he ordered group leader Laura Silsby and another woman, Charisa Coulter, held for further questioning about their previous trips to Haiti. they had no Haitian identity or exit papers for the children. Many had living parents who acknowledged turning the children over to the missionaries in the belief they would have better care in the hands of the Americans.

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