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Eugene

(61,592 posts)
Mon Nov 7, 2022, 04:50 PM Nov 2022

U.S. charges Haitian gang leaders for 2021 missionary kidnapping

Also: Criminal Charges Unsealed Against Haitian Gang Leaders for Kidnappings of U.S. Citizens (U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Columbia)

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Source: Reuters

U.S. charges Haitian gang leaders for 2021 missionary kidnapping

Brian Ellsworth
Mon, November 7, 2022 at 3:20 PM

MIAMI (Reuters) - The United States has unsealed charges against a group of Haitian gang leaders, including three men involved in last year's kidnapping of U.S. missionaries, the Department of Justice said on Monday.

Joseph Wilson, known as Lanmo Sanjou, and Jermaine Stephenson, aka Gaspiyay, of the 400 Mawozo gang that took responsibility for the October 2021 kidnapping, were charged with hostage taking and conspiracy to commit hostage taking.

Vitel'homme Innocent, leader of a Kraze Barye gang, worked with 400 Mawozo on the kidnapping, the DOJ said. The U.S. State Department said it was offering a reward of $3 million for information leading to the capture of the three men.

The sixteen Americans and one Canadian - including five children - were taken hostage while on a trip to Haiti organized by the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries.

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Read more: https://news.yahoo.com/u-charges-haitian-gang-leaders-192048702.html

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Source: U.S. Attorney's Office - District of Columbia

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 7, 2022

Criminal Charges Unsealed Against Haitian Gang Leaders for Kidnappings of U.S. Citizens

State Department Offers $3 Million in Rewards for Capture of Three Defendants

WASHINGTON – The Department of Justice today announced the unsealing of criminal charges against seven leaders of five Haitian gangs, including gang leaders involved in the armed kidnappings of 16 U.S. citizens in the fall of 2021.

“When a U.S. citizen is kidnapped abroad, the Justice Department will bring to bear the full reach of our law enforcement authorities to ensure their safe return home and to hold accountable those responsible,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. “As these charges demonstrate, we are committed to working alongside our interagency and international partners to disrupt these kidnapping-for-ransom schemes that endanger the lives of American citizens and that fuel the violent gangs harming the Haitian people.”

Among the charges unsealed today were federal indictments charging three Haitian nationals with conspiracy to commit hostage taking and hostage taking for their roles in the armed kidnapping of 16 U.S. citizens in Haiti in the fall of 2021. The victims were Christian missionaries serving near Port-au-Price, Haiti, and most of them were held captive for 61 days before escaping. The group included five children, one as young as eight months old at the time of the kidnapping.

Contemporaneous with today’s announcement, the U.S. Department of State is announcing a reward of $3 million ($1 million per each of the three defendants charged in the kidnapping of the missionaries) for information leading to the capture of the three defendants, who are believed to be in Haiti. The reward is being offered under the Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program.

Those three defendants, who are charged in separate indictments filed in the District of Columbia, include Lanmo Sanjou, aka Joseph Wilson, 29 and Jermaine Stephenson, aka Gaspiyay, in his late 20s, both current leaders of the 400 Mawozo gang, and Vitel’homme Innocent, 36, leader of the Kraze Barye gang. The 400 Mawozo gang, which operates in Croix-des-Bouquets area to the east of Port-au-Prince, claimed responsibility for the missionaries’ kidnapping. The Kraze Barye gang operates in the Torcelle and Tabarre areas of Haiti. According to the indictment, Innocent worked together with 400 Mawozo in the hostage taking.

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Read more: https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/criminal-charges-unsealed-against-haitian-gang-leaders-kidnappings-us-citizens

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