27645: (news) Chamberlain: U.S. charges woman with "smuggling human head" (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MIAMI, Feb 10 (Reuters) - A Haitian national who packed a skull in her
suitcase on a flight to Florida's Fort Lauderdale airport was charged on
Friday with "smuggling a human head."
     U.S. prosecutors said they also charged Florida resident Myrlene
Severe, who was arrested on Thursday, with failing to declare the head on a
customs declaration form and transporting hazardous material. The skull had
"organic matter" on it, they said.
     "Severe stated that she had obtained the package, which contained the
human head, from a male in Haiti for use as a part of her voodoo beliefs,"
the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.
     "Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off
evil spirits," the U.S. attorney's office added.
     While 80 percent of Haiti's 8.5 million people are Roman Catholic and
16 percent Protestant, more than half also say they practice voodoo, an
Afro-Caribbean religion whose roots go back 6,000 years or more in Africa.
     Each of the charges carries a maximum punishment of five years in
prison.
     It was unclear who Severe's attorney was, but the prosecutor's office
said bail was set at $100,000 during an initial appearance before U.S.
Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow in Fort Lauderdale, and Severe would be
arraigned on March 2.