Paul Waggoner, an American relief worker who was jailed in Haiti under suspicion of kidnapping a 15 month old boy. Last Wednesday Waggoner was released. Waggoner commented that he was at first shocked as he was being released after dark and nothing usually happens after dark.
The American relief worker was transported to a safe location and received medical treatment. A group he co-founded, the Materials Management Relief Corps broke the news to media.
According to sources, Waggoner spent 18 days in jail in Mid-December after being accused of kidnapping a 15 month old. Waggoner was jailed in the National Penitentiary in Port-au-Prince. He was jailed despite the fact that that evidence showed that the child had already died in the Haitian Community Hospital last February.
Waggoner however insists that the boy’s parents were trying to extort him.
Some stated that the parents of the child were attempting to make money out of their child. Finally a judge was able to find conflicting statements from the father prompting the release of Waggoner.
Sources say that during the earthquake, a man was bringing his 15 month old child for treatment. What happened next wasn’t recoded properly however the father believed that the child survived and that Waggoner kidnapped him. Statements from Waggoner’s supporters as well as two physicians say that the child in question died and the remains cremated though the father refused to claim the remains.
A volunteer physician Dr. Kenneth Adams says that he was there when the father was looking at his child waiting for the baby to breath for several minutes. In one statement, the father returned after 24 hours with a “witch doctor” claiming that the child was alive.
The father filed charges last March and Waggoner was arrested last December 12, 2010. The trial which was in favor of the parents of the child hinted heavily of extortion attempts of Haitian authorities on Waggoner, however there were no concrete evidence of the fact.
Waggoner was whisked to safety from people not happy with the ruling though he says he still wants to do charity works for the country.
Andriel, Netherlands