16080: (Chamberlain) Haiti-American Arrested (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By MICHAEL NORTON

   PORT-AU-PRINCE, July 4 (AP) -- A Haitian judge ordered the immediate
expulsion of an American missionary after convicting him of illegally
importing weapons, but the missionary's wife said Friday that prison
authorities refused to release him.
   James Glenn White, a Protestant missionary who runs an independent
"Sharing the Vision" mission in north-coast Cap-Haitien, was arrested May 9
while awaiting a shipment from a friend in the United States, court
documents said. Police said they found two weapons and an apparatus to make
bullets the shipment.
   White pleaded innocent in court on Thursday, saying he had told police
before the shipment arrived that it would contain weapons, including an
AR-15 assault rifle, belonging to the friend who was planning to join
White's mission in Haiti.
   He said he was told he should apply for a permit after the shipment
arrived, according to his lawyer Guerdy Lissade.
   Judge Bernard Saint-Vil found White guilty and ordered that he pay a
fine of $1,000 and leave the island nation immediately. White had faced a
maximum five-year sentence, Lissade said.
   White's wife, Theresa, and U.S. Embassy officials attempted Friday to
secure White's release from the prison, where he has been since his arrest
two months ago.
   But authorities at the national penitentiary refused to release him,
saying they lacked a signature from Haiti's director of prisons, Theresa
White said.
   "An injustice is being done," she said. U.S. officials would not comment
on the case.