Why is a wanted child trafficker and pimp defending Silsby the Haiti kidnapper?

Well, this one took me as a surprise ... I didn't notice this story altough it's already 10 days old. Not sure what to make of it; in the end it relies mostly on the testimony of the people who say they are the lawyer's parents. But it would strike me as odd that someone would go on public record with such personal things - I guess this interview won't really make them popular or something like that.

The mother and stepfather of Jorge Anibal Torres Puello told The Miami Herald on Saturday that the fugitive wanted by Salvadorean police was their son, who has been advising the church volunteers.

''That's him,'' Ana Puello said from her modest home in the outskirts of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. ''But those things they say about him, I doubt they're true … He told me, 'Mami, I swear I didn't.' He would never hurt a child.''

Using photos and fingerprints, police say they are close to confirming that Mr Torres Puello is the suspect wanted since last year for leading a network that recruited children for prostitution in Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador.

One thing is for sure. I was wrong to dismiss this story from the start. Maybe this time there really is something going on. Although I don't hope so - the scenario is freaking ugly.

Story:

www.smh.com.au...



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There is a great article about him in the New York Times today:

NY TImes Article

"Jorge Aníbal Torres Puello appears to be his real name, and Mr. Torres e-mailed copies of identity documents to support that. He acknowledged using numerous aliases over the years, sometimes to leave his criminal past behind him and sometimes for other shadowy reasons.

But even his wife, Ana J. Galvarina Ramírez Orellana, was sometimes confused about his identity.

When they first started dating, she said, she thought his name was Georges Albert Simard Puello. Then, after American authorities unsuccessfully sought to extradite him on suspicions that he was trying to smuggle migrants from Canada to the United States, he informed her that he was actually Jorge Aníbal Torres Puello.

Speaking from a jail cell in El Salvador last week, Ms. Ramírez said her mysterious husband, who had repeated brushes with the law, changed his identity with ease and left her behind in the advanced stages of pregnancy when the police sought the two of them last year in connection with the Salvadoran sex trafficking ring. Ms. Ramírez was jailed on the trafficking charges."


Here is a link to his apparent website:

Linky

It's in spanish - so use your google translator.

reply to post by Julie Washington


Thanks for the enlightening link. So it does seem to check out.

Really freaky. I'm looking for all I can get on this fellow. My imagination is running wild....

I found this article that adds some details but kind of dispels my worst fears:

Though the judge in Haiti Friday said he wanted questions about Torres Puello answered before deciding whether to release the Americans, a Saturday report by the Wall Street Journal quoted the judge now saying "the two cases have nothing to do with each other."

snip

He said he was a lawyer in the Dominican Republic, but documents show that not to be the case. Now authorities in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Canada and the United States are investigating his connection to the child-prostitution ring.

www.idahostatesman.com...

Ït turns out he was running a fake "Sephardic Jewish Organization" - that explains the kippah. It seemed out of place to me in the first place.

The following tidbit is about the time they searched his house because of allegations of traficking of underaged girls. Seems he managed to escape while they got a hold of his wife.

Why would someone be so intent as posing as a "Leader of the Sout American Jewish Community"???

And, if the guy has all of these outstanding warrants on him why would he offer his help to those missionaries and smile into every camera that offered him his attention?

It's very stupid to go on a publicity campaign when you're wanted by authorities in several countries.

Puello had escaped by the time the police arrived, but his wife, Ana Josefa Galvarina Ramírez Orellana, was arrested. Shortly after her arrest, a press release was sent to Salvadoran media by someone claiming to represent the World Jewish Congress; it claimed that both Puello and his wife were innocent, and had been the victims of extortion. The WJC quickly denied issuing that document, and it is still a mystery why Puello is so intent in posing as an important member of the Latin American Jewish community.

link:

www.thedailybeast.com...

It seems his escape to Panama never happened:

So much for the escape to Panama (something he told AP yesterday). As I wrote yesterday, only his mother knows for sure. And she's not telling.

Can this story get stranger?

....


Has Hidalgo had dealings with the man who calls himself Yoram, and claimed to be president of the Sephardic Orthodox community of the Dominican Republic (a claim dismissed by DR Jewish authorities)

So there is a possible connection between Silsby and Puello - through the man of god/realtor Pastor Jose Orlando Hidalgo.
And how does Hidalgo tie into the Silsby conundrum? Well, he is offering them counsel etc. but the interesting part is his double role:

Silsby's lawyer says he's the man who gave her the okay. But earlier press and blog reports identify Jose Hidalgo as an independent real estate agent in Sosua who helped broker the lease of a 45 room hotel for Silbsy from top Dominican Catholic officials.

www.haitivox.com...

also in that link is this interesting tidbit:

"There is no connection," Fleurant bristled. "The truth is Laura Silsby did not even meet Jorge Puello until after she was arrested."

But rather than deny reports that Hidalgo's Domincan orphanage might just be an empty building housing no children and is located in a neighborhood well-known for child sex-trafficking, Fleurant simply suggested such a neighborhood should have an orphanage.

"If you can put an orphanage in such an area, that is not a bad thing. There is where they need it most, no," he asked, refusing to dispute the orphanage's location.

Is this another obscure hint to original intentions of child prostitution/traficking?
I read that Silsby was in Haiti in December 09 - did the earthquake ruin her sinister plans... and maybe she tried to cut the losses by kidnapping as many as possible?

Also, further info on the Puello mystery - in an above post I noted the discussion about how phony his jewishness and his jewish organization were - it seems that that really got to him.
It bugged him so much that he posted a reply to the blog discussing it and thereby informing everyone that he still is in the DR and didn't flee to Panama:

bastardette.blogspot.com...





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Good find! This is really quite a story. I wonder if these missionaries from Idaho had the slightest idea of what the were doing? Who funded their mission? Was it funded by their church alone?

In her special report, Ms. d'Adesky reveals new allegations by Puello that two previously unknown Dominican individuals - a high-level lawyer involved in politics and a military official - were helping Laura Silsby procure documents and help in her effort to pick up Haitian children and bring them to a new orphanage she was establishing in the Dominican Republic.

So now Puello is turning the tables. Although his prior interaction with Silsby has not yet been confirmed (my angle for the connection was Pastor Hidalgo, see above post) he suddenly talks as if he's in on the big story.

His comments support statements made by Silsby herself to Ms. d'Adesky in January, prior to the Haiti trip.

Ms. d'Askesy is the investigator for Haiti Vox.

But at least one thing seems for sure now:

Today, Puello openly admits he's the man Interpol wants to arrest for trafficking of Dominican and Salvadoran women in El Salvador

So the speculation can end. It is him.

While Silsby initially claimed innocence about not knowing she lacked necessary paperwork to adopt Haitian children and orphans, her claims have been effectively challenged by many different parties, that she‟s not longer saying much about that. But she continues to claim she had someone telling her it was okay to go ahead. So, was it Puello?

The connection remains unclear.

Remember my conjecturing about cutting the losses? I'm not the only with who entertains that notion:

As it later turned out, Silsby's group didn't have the required paperwork when they got to the border. But has she ever had it? Or did the plan go wrong somewhere? That's something that Puello's emails suggest might have occurred.



My questions included: Why had he helped Silsby, someone he had never met, when he had an outstanding international warrant for his arrest. Why take that risk?


In response to questions, Puello states that he was put in contact by Silsby with a woman lawyer. The name he provided matches that of a high ranking lawyer and provincial district attorney who is active in Dominican politics. He claims that he contacted this woman when he noticed her name on some legal documents connected to Silsby. When he talked to this lawyer, the women told Puello that Silsby was supposed to go to the border where "the papers were going to be there, ready." But when the lawyer contact learned that Silsby had been detained, she "got nervous and hung up," claims Puello. His statements about a 'General' helping Silsby also matched Silby's original statements to me, the night of our meeting, about a Dominican 'minister' who was helping her, and had given her his personal assurance her group would have no trouble getting into the Dominican Republic.

So now we have the connection. But is this just Puello inventig bull now to deflect on his crimes?

But he still insists that he just felt charitable. Again I ask - why would a wanted criminal jump into publicity??

Puello writes that he only met the Dominican real estate duo helping Silsby after he took on the case. He claims he met Jose Hidalgo at the Matun Hotel in Santiago to get copies of documents (real estate), and again at the Adelphia Gran Almirante Hotel after "I was told by the Haitian lawyers that copies are not accepted by the Haitian Court."

So... Rabbit hole, dead end, or case ended properly?

www.haitivoxbulletin.com...

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