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<span style="font-weight: bold">News Source: OTGNR - </span>
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : U . S . Relief Worker ... ( NYTimes )...</span>
Haitian authorities say they have detained an American relief worker in Port-au-Prince on kidnapping charges, in a bizarre case stemming from whether a 15-month-old baby had died or been kidnapped at a hospital after the devastating earthquake. The aid worker, Paul Waggoner, 32, is scheduled to be transferred to the National Penitentiary, where he could be held for three months while awaiting a determination by an investigative judge, according to Materials Management Relief Corps, which Mr. Waggoner co-founded after the earthquake.The group's statements contend that Mr. Waggoner is innocent, and that the case grows from a misunderstanding: In late February, Mr. Waggoner was working at the main hospital in the suburb of Pétionville, organizing supplies and logistics, when a baby boy was admitted and later died. Kenneth Adams, an American doctor at the hospital, said in a signed affidavit that he showed the father the dead child on Feb. 23, while Mr. Waggoner looked on.But the father accused Mr. Waggoner of stealing the boy, saying he could not have been dead because his eyes were not closed. He said this week that his child had been drugged.Mr. Waggoner was aware of the accusations and left Haiti. In March, Mr. Waggoner returned, believing the case was resolved, according to colleagues, but on Sunday he was arrested at a restaurant after the father saw him and pointed him out to the police."This is a nightmare," said an American volunteer in Haiti who knows Mr. Waggoner, describing him as "a good guy" with "a bit of a cowboy attitude but a genuine love of people here." American Embassy officials have met with Mr. Waggoner, and for his safety helped "get him to a cell where he was alone," said Jon Piechowski, an embassy spokesman.In Haiti, Mr. Waggoner was known as energetic, with tattoos of Haitian taxis known as tap-taps, but he appeared to have a troubled past on Nantucket. A newspaper there, the Inquirer and Mirror, reported that he has a lengthy criminal record, with charges of assault with a deadly weapon and witness intimidation.
<span style="font-weight: bold"> Confirmed : U . S . Relief Worker ... ( NYTimes )...</span>
Haitian authorities say they have detained an American relief worker in Port-au-Prince on kidnapping charges, in a bizarre case stemming from whether a 15-month-old baby had died or been kidnapped at a hospital after the devastating earthquake. The aid worker, Paul Waggoner, 32, is scheduled to be transferred to the National Penitentiary, where he could be held for three months while awaiting a determination by an investigative judge, according to Materials Management Relief Corps, which Mr. Waggoner co-founded after the earthquake.The group's statements contend that Mr. Waggoner is innocent, and that the case grows from a misunderstanding: In late February, Mr. Waggoner was working at the main hospital in the suburb of Pétionville, organizing supplies and logistics, when a baby boy was admitted and later died. Kenneth Adams, an American doctor at the hospital, said in a signed affidavit that he showed the father the dead child on Feb. 23, while Mr. Waggoner looked on.But the father accused Mr. Waggoner of stealing the boy, saying he could not have been dead because his eyes were not closed. He said this week that his child had been drugged.Mr. Waggoner was aware of the accusations and left Haiti. In March, Mr. Waggoner returned, believing the case was resolved, according to colleagues, but on Sunday he was arrested at a restaurant after the father saw him and pointed him out to the police."This is a nightmare," said an American volunteer in Haiti who knows Mr. Waggoner, describing him as "a good guy" with "a bit of a cowboy attitude but a genuine love of people here." American Embassy officials have met with Mr. Waggoner, and for his safety helped "get him to a cell where he was alone," said Jon Piechowski, an embassy spokesman.In Haiti, Mr. Waggoner was known as energetic, with tattoos of Haitian taxis known as tap-taps, but he appeared to have a troubled past on Nantucket. A newspaper there, the Inquirer and Mirror, reported that he has a lengthy criminal record, with charges of assault with a deadly weapon and witness intimidation.