Some Missionaries to Be Released .... Funds Sent for Legal Fees Allegedly Stolen

[URL=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/17/haiti.border.arrests/index… American woman held in Haiti hospitalized, sources say[/URL]

[URL=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35441854/ns/world_news-haiti_earthquake/ Haiti to free eight of the 10 detained Americans - Laura Silsby and Charisa Coulter will be held for further investigation[/URL]

A Haitian judge said he would order the release on Wednesday of eight of 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping children, while the remaining two would be held for further questioning.

Laura Silsby, the leader of the group, and Charisa Coulter, were being kept for further investigation, said investigating Judge Bernard Saint-Vil.

[URL=http://www.idahostatesman.com/earthquake/story/1084050.html Idahoans being released from Haiti jail may be home soon — likely Thursday[/URL]

According to State Department plans last week, U.S. Embassy officials intend to put eight American detainees on the next available MilAir evacuation flight out of Port-au-Prince, Sen. Jim Risch’s office said Wednesday.

It is expected that the Haitian authorities will process their departure as a deportation. In that case, Haitian police will take them to the airport. Embassy officials are monitoring the situation and are prepared to assist with transporting if necessary, officials said.

Once they get back to the United States — likely a military base in South Carolina or Florida — the detainees are responsible for their own flights to their home states, said Brad Hoaglun, spokesman for Risch.

For the Idaho residents, that means Thursday is likely the soonest they could be back.

Under normal circumstances, the Americans would be responsible for their own flights after being released from the Haitian jail, Hoaglun said. But since the earthquake in Haiti, military planes are bringing supplies to survivors and evacuating U.S. residents from the island.

[URL=http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/world/americas/18haiti.html Judge Releases Eight Americans Jailed in Haiti [/URL]

The eight Americans emerged from a jail here on Wednesday looking exhausted and were accompanied by American diplomats to the airport. The group flew out on an Air Force plane, Reuters reported.

While Judge Saint-Vil’s ruling allows eight of the Americans to leave Haiti on the condition that they return to the country to answer further questions in the case, it requires that Laura Silsby, the Idaho businesswoman who led the group, and her live-in nanny, Charisa Coulter, remain in jail to answer questions about traveling to Haiti before the Jan. 12 earthquake.