Ex-adviser to detained Americans charged in US
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — More details are emerging about the alleged criminal past of the former legal adviser to a group of Americans detained in Haiti on child kidnapping charges.Jorge Puello confirms he was indicted in Vermont in 2003 in an immigrant smuggling ring. He fled to Canada to escape the charges, but says he is innocent.
The 32-year-old is wanted in El Salvador on human smuggling charges and was convicted in 1999 for theft.
Authorities are searching for Puello in the Dominican Republic. He said by phone Tuesday that he left the country.
He volunteered to help the Americans detained for trying to take 33 children without proper documents following the Haiti's earthquake. Puello says he didn't know them before.