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Which pastor? The one who heads the Idaho church? He’s carefully distancing himself, pointing out that the mission was not a church-sponsored activity, but that the church had “gotten involved” because the mission was organized by two of its members. He may want to keep distancing himself . . . further. Of the two members, one is 40 year old Laura Silsby, who has a sufficiently sketchy financial history that she certainly shouldn’t be allowed to collect donations at a church for an organization she’s really in complete control of. The other organizer, Charisa Coulter, is a mere 24 years old, and probably just taking orders from Silsby. Neither has any prior experience whatsoever with managing orphanages or arranging adoptions.

“The mission was organized through the nonprofit New Life Children’s Refuge, which Silsby incorporated in Idaho on Nov. 25. . . . Silsby, 40, acknowledged on Sunday that she hadn’t obtained the proper Haitian documents for the children, whose names were written on pink tape on their shirts during their bus ride to the border. Public records show Silsby also owns Personal Shopper Inc., an online shopping assistance company. Incorporation papers for New Life Children’s Refuge show they were sent from the company’s fax machine. Silsby’s records also show she personally has some unpaid state tax bills dating to 2003 and other debt from civil judgments and state tax liens filed by the state against Personal Shopper Inc. She owes more than $1,300 to the state in back taxes; the biggest civil judgment is for $4,500 in 2009, owed to a Boise law firm.” http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-haiti-idaho-church,0,4160212.story