I didn’t plan to post anymore on Team Silsby tonight, but then I got a couple news stories that just struck me as…well, you’ll see. Felicia Middlebrooks from WBBM-AM Chicago is in Haiti and tracked down Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter in their inconvenient jail cell. Go here and listen to it. Much of Middlebrook’s report is her own complaints about the conditions. Holy Jorge Puello! There’s no air conditioning…and..and…and….it’s 90 degrees…and…and…and… there’s no eletricity…and…and…and…there’s no plumbing or at least the kind American ladies and gentlemen use willingly. Middlebrooks fails to mention that Team Silsby has a roof over its head, unlike hundreds of thousands of Haitians living in tents and streets. They have real homes to return to when they get out, even if Silsbuy’s been foreclosed. Homes with air conditioning, electricity and plumbing Then there’s Drew Culberth, the Kansas firefighter and youth minister who got roped into child snatching by his brother-in-law Eastside Baptist Church pastor Paul Thompson who got roped into child snatching by Central Baptist Church patron Laura Silsby. Seems Drew, Pastor Thompson, and detainees Silas Thompson and Steve McMullin had a little party at the Bethany Baptist Church in Topeka before the latter three headed Continue Reading →

Here’s a small update on Silsby and Coulter’s newest hearing that I posted earlier. Reuters reported last night that the dynamic duo’s hearing will drag on for a few more days, so it appears that the orphaholic martyrs will be buried in their well-deserved jail cell until midweek. Hopefully longer. Investigative judge Bernard Sainvil said that before freeing Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter he wanted witnesses that he had already examined in the Dominican Republic to give their testimony in Haiti. “The Americans will have to stay in jail while I hear those people … the hearings will take place Monday and Tuesday, and they won’t be released before I finish,” Sainvil told Reuters. In case you haven’t seen this video of Silsby and Coulter going to court the other day….note that Ms Coulter’s lack of charm school training is showing.

No details yet, but the New York Times reported minutes ago that Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will not be released until next week. It looks like Judge Saint-Vil is trying to nail down Rob Chenvert, Jose Hildago, and Jean Sanvil. Does anybody know if Isaac Adrien has been called on the carpet yet? My emphasis: Judge Bernard Saint-Vil tells reporters that he has asked two real estate agents and a pastor from the Dominican Republic to testify in Port-au-Prince about property the missionaries rented to set up an orphanage. That is expected Monday. If they do not show, Saint-Vil says he still expects to rule next week. 2/26/2010: Tiny Update: A report from the European Press Photo Agency (in Spanish) says that “persistent” comments by defense attorney Aviol Fleuernt regarding the the exact release date of Silsby and Coulter put Judge Saint-Vil in a “delicate position with respect to the release: Sin embargo, fuentes judiciales sostuvieron que las persistentes declaraciones del abogado Aviol Fleurant sobre la fecha precisa de liberación de las dos misioneras que permanecen detenidas, colocó al juez en una “situación delicada” con relación a su decisión de poner fin al proceso. I’ve gotten behind in my Continue Reading →

Yesterday I wrote about four unnamed and heretofore unpublicized missionaries who stayed in the Dominican Republic to ready the orphan hotel while Laura Silsby and her child snatchers went into Haiti to gather up the swag (left). I have now identified the church: The First Baptist Church in Andrews, Texas. My information is from the February 2, 2010 CBS 7 (Odessa) News, Andrews connection with American missionaries accused of kidnapping. Go to the right of the screen and click on the video (couldn’t find a separate link) and check out old pictures of the luxurious hotel that is in real life is no longer luxurious These pictures no doubt were used to spirit the kids away from their families. (I’m working on a separate blog on that) The news report places the First Baptist Church, on the ground floor of Larua Silsby’s pre-quake orphanage scheme. It also places Silsby’s Central Valley Baptist Church as an active sponsor of the orphanage and the trip to Haiti , despite various church self-reportings to the contrary (my emphasis): Pastor Jeff Donnell of First Baptist Church in Andrews says the Central Valley Church in Idaho contacted them well before the earthquake to build an Continue Reading →

Giving new meaning to the word chutzpah. Jorge Torres Puello has just put up a webpage: Jorge es Inocente.com. It includes his biography, legal documents (including a certificate of good conduct), audio tapes, videos…and Martha Stewart! Many of the videos show the release of the “missionaries” and their return to Idaho. Apparently Yoram doesn’t realize that these are some of the most hated people in the US today, and that most of us think they belong in jail right next to Dick Cheney and Tim Geithner. To win friends and influence people he does not want to take credit for that. The page is in Spanish, and I need to go through it yet. The audio didn’t work, but I trust that will be fixed soon. The reinvention begins!

The Twin Falls Times-News today reports that more New Life “missionaries” than previously known were in the Dominican Republic preparing the so-called “orphanage” while Team Silsby was busy gathering up the boodle. We already knew that Eastside Baptist Church members John Requa and Matt and Lora Crider remained at the “orphanage” while church pastor Paul Thompson, his son Silas Thompson, and member Steve McMullin crossed into Haiti. (I thought I had already posted about Requa and the Criders, but they are in an unfinished blog that I hope to get up soon. Baby Love Child, covers them here.) Now we learn that Nancy Rodriguez, wife of Paul Rodriguez, Magic Valley Baptist Association director of missions, and four “missionaries” from an unnamed group in Texas were also at the “orphan” hotel. This makes (so far) 17 onsite New Life adoption traffickers recruited by Laura Silsby. According to the News-Times: The plan had been to gather up orphaned children and take them across the border to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic. Eastside members Matt and Lora Crider and John Requa were joined in Haiti’s neighboring country by Nancy Rodriguez – wife of Paul Rodriguez, director of missions for the Magic Valley Continue Reading →