The Haitian Ten: Who Is Laura Silsby? CBS

Originally posted by Dock9
Anyone know the details ?

Since I am unfortunately suffering from insomnia tonight, I am going to try and tackle these questions.

For example, how long before arriving in Haiti did the Ten decide they would embark on this endeavour ? A week ? Few days ?

They sent emails around for a week maybe? I found this excerpt
of Laura's website on the following link. If you click on the link in the article, (PDF file) the blogger saved it, and it looks like Laura and her Nanny sent this out on their own.

chattahbox.com...

"And the Web site of the East Side Baptist Church, had a link to the mission statement of the New Life Children’s Refuge, Haitian Orphan Rescue Mission, asking for tax-deductible donations and missionary volunteers. Paul Thompson, the Pastor of East Side Baptist Church, and his teenage son Silas, are among those being held in custody by the Haitian government for child trafficking.

The link to the New Life Children’s Refuge, since removed, revealed the ambitious and careless plans of founder Laura Silsby, to “rescue Haitian orphans abandoned on the streets, makeshift hospitals or from collapsed orphanages in Port au Prince and surrounding areas, and bring them to New Life Children’s Refuge in Cabarete, Dominican Republic.” Silsby just recently incorporated the New Life Refuge in November, and there is no evidence that the organization has a website, telephone number or the financial resources to operate an orphanage in a foreign country."

For how long were they in Haiti before they'd selected the children ?

news.bbc.co.uk...

Maybe a week?

"Ms Silsby said her group had met a Haitian pastor by chance when they arrived last week, and that he had helped them gather the children. She also admitted that they did not have the proper paperwork.

The director of Haiti's social welfare agency, Jeanne Bernard Pierre, told the Associated Press that the pastor had knocked on doors asking people if they wanted to give away their children. "

Did the Ten simply go out into the streets and select children at random, afterwards meeting up at X-location ? Or were the children already ear-marked as possessing certain blood-groups, etc.

From what I can find, see the above answer.

Via what means did they transport themselves and the children through Haiti and to the border ?

chattahbox.com...

"Silsby and her group only planned to spend enough time in Haiti to grab any available orphans and ship them across the border to the Dominican Republic, without obtaining permission from the Haitian government:

“Sun Jan 23rd: Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port au Prince, Haiti and gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the DR Mon Jan 24th: Bus arrives in Cabarete, DR at New Life Children Refuge.”

I cannot seem to find where the bus came from though.

Did any of the Ten hold any discussions with Haitian or US or other authorities prior to taking the children out of Haiti ?

www.cbsnews.com...

"The Haitian parents told The Associated Press they surrendered their children on Jan. 28, two days after a local orphanage worker acting on behalf of the Baptists convened nearly the entire village of about 500 people on a dirt soccer pitch to present the Americans' offer.

The orphanage worker, Issac Adrien, said he told the villagers their children would be educated at a home in the Dominican Republic so that they might eventually return to take care of their families."

The Ten are reported as possessing (at the time of their capture) documentation professing authorisation re: transportation of the children to the US, aren't they ? Where did the Ten obtain forged-documentation, when, and from whom ?

I have not found any proof there was documention for any of the children, and would love help answering this one.

Were the Ten planning to take the children into the US via usual means, i.e. via commercial plane and if so, had arrangements already been made to usher them through customs, etc. at the US end ? If so, doesn't this imply considerable planning and co-operation with well-placed individuals at the US side ?

and

Were the members of the Ten selected on the basis they already held passports and had had the necessary qualifications re: immunisations, etc. ?

I will try to answer. I think it sounds like Laura, who "incorporated" her orphan charity in November, is the one who sent an email out to beg for money and donations and people for the trip, independently from her church. She saw a way to "help" (if only herself to some haiti orphan money) and like all good opportunists, pounced when the earthquake hit. I think the basis the extras besides Laura and Nanny were chosen on is be part of the group and have money.

I am now going to try to research the name of the Pastor who came up in regard to this case, pastor Sandil.

All your help and research is appreciated, this is an interesting case.

I found this name in two article, one in english. Pastor Sandil, and when you visit this link, there is a video too. This is a report from Feb. 1st.

"Silsby called it all a mix-up and said the group is not guilty of any crime.

"We did have documents we had approval from the Dominican government to go over to, to take these children over to the Dominican Republic. We had we believe that we were getting conflicting information on what was required and we understood that Pastor Sandil wrote us a statement and then indicated that he...," Silsby said.

www.ktvb.com...


So early on she was claiming the Dom Rep government was down with this, and she names this mysterious Pastor Sandil as writing up paperwork before the camera blacks out.

In America it takes more than a paper from a Pastor to adopt or take custody of a child, why would she think she could do this in Haiti?

***************************************************

I used google translator on the spanish language article, in this article, a mom who gave some children, called the pastor the 'shepherd'.

Link to spanish text page:

www.larazon.es...

Translation:

"American Baptists Ten arrested in Port au Prince have been hard enough to "rescue mission for orphans in Haiti." They have since Saturday in the dungeons of the Central Directorate of Judicial Police, and despite his insistence that they are innocent, yesterday found four new problems threatening to leave the office quickly and within Haiti.


The Government of the devastated island has enough worries as to now have to take charge of a trial of U.S. citizens, even so have been very firm about it. In fact yesterday the prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, said that after discovering that children had living parents and took them without documentation, the group "knew they were not doing the right thing."


Another headache for the parishioners of two churches in Idaho is that Charisa Coulet, 24, is admitted to the University of Miami Hospital. There, flanked by two Haitian policemen, pray that everything goes well, including taking the children "and to give them a safe and warm. She also hopes that diabetic drop charges against them and "they see our hearts know that we really love these kids'.
The third problem faced is that there is still no deal to bring them back to their territory.

Although the Haitian authorities have said that if the U.S. requests extradition could be tried there, the embassy acknowledges that it has jurisdiction.


***To make matters worse, a Haitian mother, Magoni, acknowledged Monday in the company of others who regrets giving her five children to the solidarity project. "I gave them to the shepherd (Sandile) to give them a better life, but now I feel sorry," he told reporters before entering the station. In fact, this newspaper has learned that they were promised something like a summer camp, swimming included, in his "New Life Children's Shelter," which was in Magante provisionally, Dominican Republic, where they were going with the 33 children before being caught by border police.***


The children are now in the shelter that SOS Children's Villages is in Santo. Williet George, spokesman for the center, tells the reason many children are still very confused by what they have done their parents. "Some are being treated psychologically. Williet ensures that a parent has gone to ask about them, "but let them not see them, we must ensure that it is safe and under what circumstances they are delivered."

In other articles I have read the group hooked up with this shepherd through the coincidence of the Lord's guiding hand (meaning per chance).

More to come.

I have found very little on the Pastor named, or even if this is the pastor. But I found this, "Florida Immigrant Coalition Monthly ENews!", and there was one mention of a "Pastor Eduardo Sandil" in this section:

Democracy School Class of 2007 graduates received their diplomas in a graduation ceremony at the FLIC Congress. Congratulations to graduates:

www.floridaimmigrant.org...


*****************************************************8

From the same website, only five months earlier, there is a newsletter that explains the upcoming school/classes, and how fifty people are participating.

"FLIC Democracy School Training for Trainers
Fifty people from 15 different cities came together in Haines City on
April 21st for a Democracy School Training for Trainers workshop. This
workshop provided a wonderful opportunity for the organizing circles
to further develop their civic engagement and organizing capacity.
Many thanks to Santana Catholic Church, Mayron, the Center for
Community Change, El Olivo Restaurant and the many people who
contributed to making the training a success."

Now, Flic is Florida Immigration Coalition. I find it to be a big coincidence this flic which focuses on immigration issues (including Haiti) trained a Pastor Sandil in immigration causes, then a few years later, a Pastor Sandil is mentioned in an immigration scandal (Haitian Ten).

74.125.47.132...

Now here is a blog that discusses immigration reform, FLIC and particularly, giving TPS (temorary protected status) to Haitians, back in OCT 09.

flimmigrant.wordpress.com...

"Some 50 Haitians and their supporters held a spirited demonstration in front of the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach on Monday, Oct. 26 to demand that President Obama immediately grant Temporary Protected Status or TPS to some 35,000 undocumented Haitians currently in the US.

Obama was at the hotel for a fundraiser for Democratic Florida congressmen Alcee Hastings and Kendrick Meek, who is running for senator.

The demonstration was organized by the Haitian American Grassroots Coalition, Institute of Justice and Democracy (IJDH), Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC) and Free Haiti Now, all groups which had been expecting Obama to reverse the Bush administration’s denial of TPS to Haitians last December."



So we know FLIC is involved with Haitian immigration issues, and coincidentally, the same Pastor mentioned by Laura Silsby just happens to share the same name as a Pastor involved with a groups that is involved with Haitian immigration issues.




Could the "chance encounter (as per Laura S) have had more than the Lord's hand guiding it?

Here is some light being shed on Laura Silsby's activities immediately prior to her departure. It references the groups leaving with a uhaul. Possibly answers some questions like when they left. Article is from the third.



articles.latimes.com...

" Before the Jan. 12 earthquake, two church members had started a charity in hopes of building an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for Haitian children. But once the magnitude of the devastation became apparent, Laura Silsby, 40, and Charisa Coulter, 24, accelerated their plan.

They asked the church's missions program to help them get to the impoverished island nation as soon as possible and, according to family and friends, secured a motel in the Dominican Republic that could function as an orphanage. The congregation responded, Henry said. Stacks of donated goods began piling up in the church lobby.

Members of Central Valley have traveled on overseas missions before. But Henry said the hope was that an orphanage closer to the U.S. would give congregants an opportunity to regularly help people in need. "This was kind of a no-brainer," he said. "Let's go be a part of . . . changing kids' lives."

The Central Valley group partnered with missionaries from a Baptist church in Twin Falls, Idaho. They were taking their first group of children from Haiti to the Dominican Republic when authorities stopped them.

Speaking from the Haitian jail, Silsby told reporters Monday night that the group lacked formal paperwork to transport the children, but that "God wanted us to come here to help children; we are convinced of that."

and

"Reporting from Meridian, Idaho — The church members left this Boise suburb the night of Jan. 21 in an SUV, towing a U-Haul trailer full of children's clothes and diapers for the Haitian orphans they expected to rescue."

******************************************************

I am curious. The supposed orphanage in Dom Rep. The motel rooms secured before departure. How many donations actually made it to Haiti with them as reports of the kidnapped children's health were less than satisfactory (or condition). Her admission it seems to guilt (no papers). How much money was raised. Laura Silsby's failed business. Laura Silsby's financial troubles. The pastor who seems connected in a way (possibly) with Haitian immigration, who is Laura Silsby's "chance" encounter when the Haitian Ten arrive. Laura Silsby and her former nanny (half Laura's age) are the only two officially affiliated with a new charity formed just recently, after the failed business of Lauras, in Nov 09.

Curious.

Ahh, from Jan 31st, from the Idaho Statesman paper:

www.idahostatesman.com...


Looks like Laura was in contact with a Haitian Pastor, Jean Silba, before leaving, in regards to his own orphanage being ruined. Or something. And that the Idahoans (or maybe just Laura) were planning an orphanage in (ready for this) Haiti and had been planning this for years.

This article quotes the father (poor guy) of the 18 yr old girl, Nicole Lankford.

From the article:


"Lankford said the Idahoans had been planning an orphanage in the Dominican Republic for several years, and they were ready to build when the earthquake hit. Members quickly arranged to help a pastor whose orphanage in Haiti collapsed, Lankford said.

"They've been working with governments on bothsides for a while," he said."


And more from Laura, including the mention of the Pastor.


"Group leader Laura Silsby said the group paid no money for the children, whom she said they obtained from well-known Haitian pastor Jean Sanbil of the Sharing Jesus Ministries.

The Idaho group had rented hotel rooms in the Dominican Republic for up to six months to house the children while the orphanage is being built, Lankford said."


**************************************************

Just another link to an article that has some more dates, such as Nov 25th 09 as the day Laura's charity was incorporated.

www.timesonline.com...


"Silsby told the AP that she hadn't been following news reports while in Haiti, and didn't think she needed Haitian permission to take them out of the country. She said they only had the best of intentions and paid no money for the children, who she said were brought to a Haitian pastor by their distant relatives.

Silsby, who incorporated the nonprofit New Life Children's Refuge in Idaho on Nov. 25, said she could not provide a contact number for the pastor who put her in touch with the relatives because her papers and cell phone were taken by police."

****************************************************8

So international dogooder Laura Silsby could not be bothered to keep up with news on Haiti, while in Haiti. Nor did she keep the pastors contact information anywhere but her cell. Paper and pencil, anyone? After a major disaster, you really need non electric back ups for things.


More and more it looks like Laura and her nanny are the two who should be held, not the poor innocent other eight (including two teen agers!!!!) misguided fools.

In this interview with Laura Silsby's sister, the sister confirms (or is the only source?) the claim of the years preparation for the Haiti trip, before the earthquake. Sister also tells of the two texts that managed to reach her from the earthquake ravaged isle, which to me implies there is little excuse for not having proper documentation, because if one can text sissy in America, one can use that same technology to make certain all the proper documentation is in order.


www.ktvb.com...

Watch the video, listen to the sister's voice, she has some emotion coming through, however, I cannot tell if it is fear for her sister's safety, or fear born of........other concerns.

"Barton says her sister spent close to one year planning this trip.

"I don't know the exact dates, but the only reason this got shifted into high gear was because of the earthquake," said Barton."


This must be the source for the shifted into high gear I keep hearing about. I love family, but are they the best root source for what seems to appear a shady dealing? I wonder if there is other confirmation there was indeed a year long plan to help orphans in Haiti (and isn't the sister quite vague on details)....

And if the orphanage had indeed been planned for over a year in Dom Rep, why the need to rent hotel rooms for the orphans? Why havent the authorities by now confirmed the construction of the supposed Dom Rep orphanage site Laura Silsby keeps telling us all about?



I think I need to dig into this planned orphanage, and Laura Silsby's past more deeply today.

Of course I hope anyone reading this thread (thank you for keeping up) can feel free to contribute their own thoughts and links, because this situation has many many facets.

reply to post by hotbakedtater


Internet induced insomnia here, too

So thank you for such comprehensive information

Going back now to read in depth

More questions came to mind earlier in the day (not questions of you personally ... questions that the media, currently at least, appears not to be asking or proposing answers to)

But ... back to your posts now and thank you again

reply to post by hotbakedtater

Of course I hope anyone reading this thread (thank you for keeping up) can feel free to contribute their own thoughts and links, because this situation has many many facets.

Hi, Hotbakedtater.
About Laura Silsby's claim that she was trying to help out orphans:
Why would she try to get her hands on three children whom she knew to have been legally adopted by an American couple?

After being told three times not to interfere with the legal adoption process for three Haitian children, Laura Silsby showed up at their orphanage and told officials she was there to pick up the kids, their adoptive father, Richard Pickett, told the Statesman Friday.

Pickett, who lives in Kentucky, said he had been trying for five years to adopt the children and flew down to Haiti after the earthquake to pick them up in a legal process accelerated by the U.S. government.

He said Silsby found out through a mutual friend he was adopting children there and called his wife.

"She told my wife she'd be happy to pick up our kids," he said. "My wife told her explicitly not to pick them up."

Silsby called back twice more.

"My wife felt alarmed by the first phone call and then very alarmed by Laura's persistence," he said.

He said the orphanage called his wife to say Silsby had stopped by and asked to take the children, who had been taken to a safe place after the quake. Orphanage officials told the Picketts that Silsby paid a worker who spoke English to help her find children at other orphanages to take with her. "When that didn't pan out, she became upset,"Pickett said.

Source: www.idahostatesman.com...

reply to post by jeanvaljean


Wow, thank you for your input, and for the first Kentucky connection I have found in the case! (just interesting, seeing as I hail from KY).

This is yet another incidence where Laura Silsby had plenty of cell phone reception, and no problem attaining state side phone numbers of people previously (?) unknown to her so she can harrass them by phone! If her cell phone is that good, she could have kept up with the news in Haiti too., and managed to locate numbers of government officials to help her charitable cause.


******************************************************


A new story, posted today, February 7th. Over a week in now.

www.telegraph.co.uk...



"Even as her business affairs plunged deeper into turmoil, the church-going 40-year-old had been drawing up plans to build an orphanage for Haitian children and run an adoption programme "for loving Christian parents who would otherwise not be able to afford" the cost.

Over the last year, Mrs Silsby and her live-in nanny Charisa Coulter, 24, made several trips to Haiti and the neighbouring country of Dominican Republic, where she had ambitious plans for an orphanage with resort facilities on a north coast beach.

But after the devastating Jan 12 earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, she went to the pastor of her Central Valley Baptist church and asked for volunteers to join her and her assistant Miss Coulter on a fast-track mission of mercy.

The goal, according to her written submission for funds, was to "rescue Haitian orphans" and "share God's love with these precious children, helping them heal and find new life in Christ".

The emotive appeal was flash emailed around the close-knit Baptist community of Idaho, a deeply conservative and religious state. It brought immediate results.

Three other worshippers from Central Valley - including a mother and her 18-year-old daughter - volunteered. So did three members of the Eastside Baptist church 140 miles away in Twin Falls - the pastor Paul Thompson and his son Silas, 18, among them - and two of Mr Thompson's relatives from Texas and Kansas. "



**For such a financially strapped person, I guess she prioritized the "live in nanny"**.

Again, from today's article....the first mention I have heard of her ex husband (who it says is assumed to be looking after the kids, one of whom is an adult, so the mystery of a live in nanny deepens), and quotes of an excessive lifestyle from ex neighbors.


"Her 16-year marriage to Terry Silsby, a real estate agent, ended in 2007. He has declined comment but is believed to have been looking after their young daughter and teenage son since his ex-wife embarked on her mission. Mrs Silsby also has an adult son.

In 2008, just before the property market crash, she paid $358,000 for a large mustard-coloured home in the new Shepherd's Creek development in Meridian. Then last November, she registered the New Life Children's Refuge (NLCR), her planned charity, at the address.

But just before Christmas, the family packed up and left overnight, departing so abruptly that they left a 15-ft [holiday] tree in one of the windows. A "For Sale" board declares that the property is being sold in foreclosure proceedings.

There were few regrets from other residents, neighbour Chris Wentzel told The Sunday Telegraph. "They were not popular at all," she said. "They didn't look after the property and they had a vicious pit bull that used to get out. The police were called a few times.

"She had that nice house and a convertible blue Lexis sports car so we figured she was making good money. It was a real shock when she just bailed out like that and now we hear about all these financial problems.

"And I was just amazed to see she was down in Haiti, saying she was trying to save orphans. She never struck me as the do-gooder type."


***Can't wait for someone to pull up those police reports! ***



The Kentucky Connection: (from same article):



"And the extraordinary account of Richard Pickett, a web designer from Kentucky , and his wife Malinda certainly raises questions about Mrs Silsby's intentions.

The Picketts were in the final stages of adopting three Haitian children when, with the paperwork approved, the quake struck. Twelve days later, Mr Pickett travelled to Haiti to collect the children. While he was away, his wife received three calls from Mrs Silsby, of whom the couple had no prior knowledge, offering to pick up the children herself when she arrived in Haiti.

"My wife was very clear with each time that under absolutely no circumstances was she to try and do that," Mr Pickett told The Sunday Telegraph. "In fact, I was already with the kids in a refugee centre by then. But we have since heard from the orphanage that she turned up, claiming to be our friend and asking for the children."

He believes Mrs Silsby had obtained their name from an agency involved in adoptions from Haiti. And orphanage workers have said that she "cried in frustration" when she was rebuffed by her requests for children from other establishments. It was then, it appears, that she lead the group to the village where parents say they were encouraged to hand over the children. "

**The above confirms Laura Silsby had no prior connection to this poor KY couple. And how outrageous to offer to interfere with the Pickett's adoption, Laura herself says over and over she fast tracked this to help the orphans victimized by the quake, NOT ALREADY adopted kids!@!!

The fact some shady agency in Haiti released this couple's name in the first place needs to be addressed, my goodness how easy is it to kidnap kids down there?? Could this be the reason the Haitian Ten are being treated as examples, so the Haitian government tries to look like it is tough on the mess??


Thank you all for the contributions, it looks like with such media attention now, this case will be full of leads quite soon. I still am not convinced that Laura Silsby is not being scapegoated in some fashion, simply because corrupt persons like to choose people with questionable pedigrees to be scapegoats in the fist place.

Ok. Still have the video of Barton (Silsby's sister) running and this may sound needlessly trivial. However, if you look at Silsby (1.30 approx. in the video) you'll note the shiny, groomed hair. Then move forward to look at the sister (Barton's) hair for comparison. Barton has the benefit of hot showers, shampoos, conditioner, hot rollers, etc. Plus the tv-news make-up person there to touch up between takes

Yet Barton looks more dishevelled than Silsby (albeit wearing make-up)
Barton may well be in air-conditioned premises: nil humidity
Silsby is supposedly in high-humidity, in a filthy jail with open sewer

Barton claims to the tv camera that Silsby's environment is so bad that 'she may not even have access to clean water .. it looks on the tv as if she's just been given clean water to drink' (words to that effect)

Pan back to the video, at 1.30 and you see a clean, fresh-faced Silsby with gleaming, recently shampooed and groomed hair. Yet hair in a humid, overcrowded Haitian 'nightmare' jail would be greasy, oily, separated, frizzy, lank and the face would be oily, shiny, greasy

Looks as if Barton's claims (of Silsby suffering in intolerable conditions) are at distinct odds with the vidoed evidence


Still with Barton, who claims Silsby had planned for approx. one year beforehand to 'do something for the street kids of Haiti'

It's a claim. No evidence to substantiate it. Just words. But we know that many viewers will accept those words as true and will henceforth believe (they won't know why they believe it) that Silsby 'loved children' and for a year beforehand had been planning to create an Haitian orphanage 'for homeless children'

Personally, I'm not persuaded by Barton's 'shaky voice' or 'tearfulness'

reply to post by Dock9
Yes, the Silsby sister video demonstrates perfectly to me any way how a soundbyte from a dubious (until vetted, andall family members have to be dubious sources they are vested in these people) source becomes gospel in some cases.

Your observations on the hair etc are very astute and in my opinion, correct.

I found more on the Kentucky Connection Couple. The father has a website, richardpickett.com. Happy Homecoming for these lucky kids, and more details on the Laura Silsby connection. Also a picture of the mom and one of the kids. The father thinks perhaps Laura Silsby was trying to....extort....them.


www.wbko.com...


"While Richard Pickett was in Haiti, Malinda received three separate phone calls from laura Silsby saying she wanted to help out.

"When they get to the Dominican, I'll help you get them over. And I told her no," said Malinda, "my husband is over in Haiti advocating for our adoption to be finished and get our kids home and you know at this time I don't think we need any help."

Malinda says the phone calls raised some red flags. "Do you realize?" she asked Silsby, "we've been waiting 5 years to get our children, you know it's not that easy to just go to Haiti and pick up kids. You know, you can't do that."

"She kept persisting, and Malinda kept saying no, don't bother our children," said Richard, "and Laura decided to show up at the orphanage anyway, and ask for our children, and said that malinda had sent her there. And our children were not there at the time, they were with me."

With all the information surfacing about Silsby's money woes, Richard Pickett thinks she was financially motivated to get his children.

"And maybe do a mild form of extortion, because here we are, obviously interesteed in caring for our children and if she had them in the Dominican, she could use us as leverage to have us pay for their support," said Richard."


**************************************************8

Adding, an article on the adoption BEFORE Laura Silsby ran across these kids or the Pickett's. The Pickett's had been involved in the children's lives for several years before the quake.

www.wbko.com...


"Malinda says she's had years to prepare for their arrival. The children come from the poorest country in the western hemisphere, and Malinda is thrilled to provide for them.

"I'm just really excited and I can't wait! I can't wait to get all of their clothes out and see what they look like in their little gap jeans, and their little old navy stuff and their nike shoes."

"This week I finally get to get all that out and really it's kind of like putting a baby room together."

It's been five years since the Pickett's started sponsoring the children, and now, the wait is finally over.
"It's going to happen. My babies are going to get to come home."


*****This TV station was following the story, for a while before the dad left even, as a human interest story. I wonder who gave the Pickett's KY phone number to Laura? Did Laura bully the number out of a Haitian orphanage worker where the Pickett's children awaited their father's arrival? If so, why?



[edit on 7-2-2010 by hotbakedtater]

Well Steven P Mcmullen born 1953 who is 56 years old did serve time for a felony in the Idaho Department of Corrections. Im not sure what charge it was or how long he served but he did serve time in prison on a felony charge. So presumeing the innocent of the rest should be reconsidered. And how about Charisa Coulter 24-year-old of Boise, Idaho is also being held in Haiti. VP and co‐founder of New Life Children Refuge. You can't say she didnt know about Laura Silsby and the state of the organization that they both ran. She had to know that no paper work, liscneces or plans for a building were done. They both support The Manhattan Declaration and it says "The Manhattan Declaration endorses civil disobedience under certain circumstances. Declaration issues a clarion call to Christians to adhere to their convictions and informs civil authorities that the signers will not - under any circumstance - abandon their Christian consciences." And on Anderson Cooper 360. 20 of the 33 children have atleast one parent many with both parents the remaining 13 are still being looked into. And according to the interpreters the group was using while in Haiti the group knew the children had living parents. I still have hope some might of been innocent and dragged into something by a leader who was misguideing them but I find three of them who need futher looking into in order to find out who all knew they were breaking the laws.

STEVEN PAUL MCMULLEN #30196

Status: Discharged
Date of Birth: 01/23/1953
Discharge Date: 11/14/2001
Other Information:


www.accessidaho.org...

STEVEN PAUL MCMULLEN does not show up on any child predators or sexual predators list for Idaho. So I don't believe the felony was sexual in nature.

www.isp.state.id.us...

[edit on 7-2-2010 by JBA2848]

reply to post by hotbakedtater

orphanage workers have said that she "cried in frustration" when she was rebuffed by her requests for children from other establishments.

Cried in frustration ?

Ravaged nation; people injured, shocked, grief-stricken, disorientated, homeless, desperate, dislocated, etc. A genuinely caring individual would be distributing 'care' in its many forms, until they dropped from exhaustion

Only someone desperate (why?) would be running past streets full of the needy, in order to get children (even children who'd been formally adopted by a US couple) and ONLY children, via any means possible

The three children who'd been formally adopted by the US couple would presumably already have been vaccinated, would have passed medical checks, would have passports and documentation already arranged. They would have been a gift, a bonus for someone who perhaps had a quota to fill. And they could function as a very handy 'pass' for someone with 30 other, non-documented kiddies in tow in a hectic, post-quake environment when security checks could be expected to be far less stringent than they might otherwise be

For example, when dealing with officials who might question the transportation of 30-odd children across borders, it might successfully be claimed, ' Look, we were robbed of the children's passports and documentation last night. All we have left are documents and passports for these three, which show that we did have the necessary documentation for all the kiddies. We did have similar authorisation to take all these kids out of Haiti and to our Sounds Official Orphanage. It's imperative we get all these children to the orphanage asap. So if you'd be so kind as to waive whatever impediments would normally apply and let us through I assure you that once we have the children all safely settled in our orphanage, we'll get copies of the other 30 children's papers to you '

Something along those lines might explain the urgent need to get some kids from Haitian orphanages, rather than grab them off the street. If they'd agreed to release children to the Ten, the orphanages could (one way or another) very probably be coerced or pressured into providing some sort of paperwork which could then be used to legitimise the transportation of a few dozen more kids which could then be grabbed straight off the street

Caring for children does not translate to stealing children or taking children from their biological parents under false pretences

Caring for children doesn't translate to crying in frustration when you can't simply just walk in and 'have' a few kids as if they were shoes on sale that you were being prevented from walking away from the store with

Frustration: ' I WANT them '

Response: ' Sorry, you can't have them'

Frustration: ' But I WANT them '

Response: ' Well, you can't have them '

Frustration: ' But I WANT them ! '

Response: ' Well, you can't have them and that's that '

Frustration has melt-down. Has no back-up plan. Must have had huge emotional investment in getting what it wanted. Tears of desperation, fear, impotence. That's not 'caring for children'. That's having to GET children. Why ? So you can smuggle them through the country, over the border and park them in a motel ?

I don't buy it

I mean, she was trying to take children who were already in orphanages

[edit on 7-2-2010 by Dock9]

reply to post by Dock9


Excellent observations, and reasoning on the aggressive pursuance of the Kentucky Haitian kids. You may have just hit on something here.

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I have been coming up quite empty handed on proof of Laura Silsby's New Life Children's refuge. The state of Idaho has this on record, and there are PDF and TIFF files at this site.

www.accessidaho.org... alue=C185308

6.30 a.m. and will try again to grab some sleep

Very interesting reading and some excellent research being conducted by the OP and others

reply to post by JBA2848


Thank you for your research into the felon. I already had questions about the live in nanny, now Laura has a felon she is hanging around with. Then again, she is a deadbeat herself, financially, but in this economy I would not judge solely on fiscal responsibility. Laura has many many other worrying aspects to buffer up the lack of money smarts.

It seems there are reports of a note being passed to media producers, in which eight of the ten claim Laura is lying.

www.idahostatesman.com...

Idahoans in Haiti: 'We fear for our lives' In a note passed to an NBC producer, 8 of the group say leader Laura Silsby is 'lying'

"A member of the group, which includes five members of Meridian's Central Valley Baptist Church, handed an NBC producer a note Saturday as they were talking off camera through bars at the Haitian jail where they were detained. The note included the names of eight detainees, but not Silsby, of Boise, or her live-in nanny, 24-year-old Charisa Coulter, NBC reported.

"We fear for our lives in Haiti. There is corruption and extortion," the note read. "Laura wants to control. We believe lying. We're afraid."

The note adds: "Please, you must listen. We have no way to call. Court will not let us have a say with anything about truth for us. We only came as volunteers. We had nothing to do with any documents and have been lied to."

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WOW, this is getting more outrageous as each day passes. I suspect when the dust settles, laura and her live in (nanny?) will be the ones left to account for this mess. And I am just waiting for the live in (nanny?) to tell her side.

I feel so sorry for the two teenagers caught up in this, and hope they make it out with huge life lessons learned.

Get some sleep and come back to the thread refreshed, Dock, I appreciate the interest and contributions.

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Here is a youtube video of Laura Silsby's foreclosed home. I apologize for the hideous music.






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Very nice sleuthing on Laura Silsby from this webpage:


www.streetprophets.com...

Plenty of links to various aspects of Laura's poor financial choices.