'Lawyer' for US missionaries in Haiti arrested

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A fugitive who once acted as the lawyer for US 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 US, where he is wanted on 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.

Authorities also have an outstanding warrant for his arrest on an alleged US parole violation following a 2003 federal indictment out of Vermont accusing him of smuggling illegal migrants from Canada into the United States.

Puello was living in Canada at the time and said he was working undercover for US authorities.

Puello attracted international attention when he provided the US missionaries detained in Haiti with food, medicine and legal assistance. One of the Americans' Haitian lawyers, Aviol Fleurant, told the AP that Puello absconded with US$30,000 (NZ$42323) in legal fees the Americans had raised for Fleurant.

Puello, who was born in New York but holds both US and Dominican citizenship, told the AP in February that he was innocent of all accusations.

Nine of the 10 missionaries involved in the case, most of whom are from Idaho, have been released from jail and returned to the United States. Group leader Laura Silsby remains in custody at the police station that is being used as Haiti's temporary government headquarters.

- AP