karl penhaul is in port-au-prince for us tonight with more detail on this. i guess despite good intentions seemingly these missionaries are potentially facing some serious jail time. >> reporter: i think the jury is obviously still out on how good their intentions were or how calculating they were in putting together a plan. certainly they can face very serious jail time. the maximum penalty under recent haitian law for kidnapping children is life. they also face another charge of criminal association. that carries a charge of three to nine years. of course, that decision, although we've been following this case very closely, was a bombshell decision when it was announced. we didn't necessarily expect all of the ten would be charged in that way. there was certainly a lot of media interest. now, when the police brought the ten americans to the attorney general's office to appear before a panel of prosecutors you can see some of those pictures there, a huge media scrum there. initially some of the police tried to hide the faces of the american missionaries as

karl penhaul, our cnn correspondent.rd prime minister jean-max bellerive, the prime minister of haiti. the families, mr. prime minister, of the ten americans held in haiti, have issued this statement. we are anxious, fearful and concerned about our family members, especially the young people who are jailed in a foreign country. obviously we do not know details about what happened and didn't happen on this mission. however, we are absolutely convinced that those who were recruited to join this mission traveled to haiti to help, not hurt these children. we're pleading to the haitian prime minister to focus his energies on the critical task ahead for the country and to forgive mistakes that were made by a group of americans trying to assist haiti's children. mr. prime minister, having heard that, what is your reaction? >> what i can say is exactly what i'm doing is i'm focussing on the real problem of the haitian people right now. i certainly hope that the conviction of those people -- i certainly hope that the people that

let's talk to karl penhaul, following this from the get-go. carl, in terms of what we know that they have said to you and others that -- we know is not true. what are the lies that you say you know pointblank? >> reporter: well, let's not go into the stuff they talked about in the interview. let's talk about this little piece of paper. it's about four inches by three. this is the so-called brochure that the americans were giving out to people who were handing over children. first line, "we want to help haitian children who have lost their mother and father." that is not true. most of these children were not orphans and in many cases it was their own mother and/or father that handed over the kids to the americans. and the americans knew that because their translators were translating that for them. line two "new children refugee non-profit dedicated to loving and caring orphaned and abandoned haitian children in the dominican republic. "we understand the organization isn't registered as a non-profit and isn't dedicated to looking after any kind

karl penhaul is in port-au-prince, haiti, so is george willi, for s.o.s. children's villages. children caught up in what haitian authorities allege was a trafficking scheme. now, karl, the latest on the ten citizens being detained in haiti that took a bus load of undocumented haitian children out of haiti. what's the latest on those ten, karl? >> reporter: well, they're still sitting in jail cells near the airport in port-au-prince. when i talked to them twice over the weekend they said the conditions were spartan but they were treated well by they jail alrea lors they did have too much to eat and too much water but trying to keep spirits high by reading passages from the bible. they were to come before a judge today. that didn't happen we understand. they may come before a judge tomorrow. there's a possibility the haitian prime minister has left the door open to the fact these ten american baptists could be sent to the u.s. to face trial, larry. >> larry: georgia, first, how are the children doing? there are 33 of them, right? how are they doing, george? >> yes, there are 33 o

karl penhaul has been working this for a long time. i appreciate you rushing this on air. more on the church group in question. we want to figure out who these folks are. did they come to haiti to help kids and something that got messed up and something they didn't expect? the government needs to be meridian, ohio where the group is based. what do you know about this church. >> picking up on what carl said, this woman is truly the leader in all this. she and another member, they're members of the churn, the central back tast chaurch. we can tell tu the plan is to build a pool but it was in its infant see all of sudden they wanted to go down there and do something right away. as we look into the group and plan, i think it's fair to say, anderson, that some questions have arisen about the capabilities. we can go through them one by one. first of all, they have no experience running an orphanage. no experience. they're also not registered as a nonprofit. it's not clear over a period of time how they would have the financial wherewithal to staeng this orphanage. finally, they'

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let's go to karl penhaul. he's joining me on the phone now from port-au-prince with the story of these ten americans we've been following. ten americans who apparently trying to take haitian children out of haiti through the dominican republic. they were arrested. karl, what's the update? we understand they are in court right now. >> yes, they are down here at the courthouse -- by the prosecutor, and it's the prosecutor who will ultimately decide whether they will be formally charged with charges such as child trafficking or kidnapping, had is what the haitian government is accusing them of, or whether they will be released. now, what the prosecutor has to do is go through the files, the dossiers that have been drawn up over the last two days. and on the basis of that, he will ask additional questions to the ten americans, both yesterday and the day before, an investigative judge held meetings. first off, with the five american women, and then with the five american men, putting questions to them. that took pl

but first, the latest from haiti and karl penhaul who joins us now. karl, you've been tracking this thing for days now. what have you just learned? >> reporter: well, of course we know that the americans, from their own mouths, have no documents for these kids. they have no official permission from the hatian authorities to get the kids out of haiti. we spent the afternoon with three young men, the interpreters for the group of ten american baptists. those three interpreters spent from tuesday through friday with the americans, going everyone that the americans went. those interpreters have told us today that the americans had a meeting with a hatian policeman on two occasions. the hatian policeman, or what appeared to be a hatian policeman, boarded the bus on the first occasion on tuesday and according to the conversation that the interpreters heard, they said that the hatian policeman told laura sillsby, the team leader of that american baptist group, that she could not gather hatian children together like this. what then followed was an offer to hel

next of kin such as an elder brother or elder sister who had been looking after them, wolf. >> karl penhauly. thank you, karl, very much. >>> toyota's nightmare, now word from the top official that it took considerable pressure to get the company to issue its recall. you have multiple cars... and multiple toys... with multiple places to go. so be smart. simplify. combine and save. get all your insurance from one allstate agent, and you can get multiple discounts... on your multiple policies. simpler is smarter. that's allstate's stand. are you in good hands? . >>> all right, let's check in with jack for the cafferty file. jack? >> the question this hour is what role should abstinence only sex education play in preventing teen pregnancy, which for the first time in ten years has begun to rise again in this country. monica writes -- >> abstinence may be the only 100% effective way to prevent pregnancy or disease, but teenagers are still going to have sex. shouldn't they have all the information available to them? ted writes -- the physical, emotional, financial and spiritual consequences of t

karl penhaul has been following all of it.s a look. >> they said they were coming to save haitian orphans in jesus' name. first they seemed naive but well-intentioned. but haitian and dominican authorities now paint a different picture. they say the baptist missionaries had no proper paperwork and were, in fact, warned last friday their so-called mercy mission was illegal. >> and i warn her, i say, as soon as you get there without the proper documents, you're going to get in trouble because they're going to accuse you because you have the intent to pass the border without the proper papers, and they're going to accuse you of kid trafficking. >> reporter: but that's very different from what the group's leader, laura silsby, told cnn in a jailhouse interview. >> we went to the dominican consulate and was told there by the consulate general to go ahead and head towards the border, that we should be fine, you know, to pass. >> reporter: less than four hours after they met the consul, silsby and the other americans were arrested at

karl penhaul talked to some of the parents. >> reporter: family photos taken before a desperate father-year-old leila to a group of american baptists last week. the americans are now in a haitian jail accused of trafficking 33 babies and children. the story is echoed by other children in this village, said he was too poor to care for his kids after the quake. he hoped the americans would offer his girls a brighter future. i put them on the bus with the americans with my own hands. i played with them up until the last minute. then i kissed them both goodbye and told them don't forget daddy, he said. another man says he earns $1 a day fixing computers shows us around his home. he finds the grubby bear his little soria called tejong. he packed nothing for his kids. he said the americans promised to give the children schooling, a safe home in the dominican republic, new clothes and soft toys. i was crying because i didn't know when i would see them again, but it's okay if i suffer, but at their age they should not suffer. they can't go hungry, he said. in the grassy square, villagers say 2

karl penhaul is in port-au-prince. let's go to dan simon first.e getting in meridian, idaho. these missionaries are based in the church where you are right now, and now the charges have formally been leveled. >> well, wolf, we've been wanting to talk to family members who have assembled here at the church, but at this point no reaction from anybody here at the central valley baptist church. in fact, they've locked their doors here. we've got a couple e-mails from pastor drew ham basically saying, at this point we need our privacy, and when we're ready to release a statement, we'll let you know. through it all, though, i'll point out they've been pretty friendly here at the church. they've been leaving water and donuts for us every day we've been here. dorothy lawrence is the one who put together all this, and we can tell you before she went to haiti, her world was literally closing in on her here in idaho. her home was just foreclosed, her business was facing deep financial trouble. we can tell you her business was the target of numerous lawsuits.

our karl penhaul has been following this story, he's live for us in port-au-prince.were scheduled to have a court hearing today. so, i guess, now where are these americans? is that court hearing going to happen? >> reporter: well, certainly, t.j., from what we know, the americans are here at the headquarters of the judicial police, this is where they've been held in a jail since they were arrested. what we understand, they were never due to go into a court, because the court system has practically collapsed since the earthquake. that even according to the hatian prime minister, so the judge was due to come here. that as far as we know has not happened so far and haitian authorities are no longer saying -- whether it will or not take place in the court, the information minister has now told journalists to shut up about the americans. he said i can't tell you any more. when i know any more, i will tell you. certainly what we found out in our own investigations yesterday, we went to the village of calabas, about an hour's drive up in the mountains, there we found the pa