Dallas Doctor Wanted In Haiti For Kidnapping

DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - When images of an earthquake-stricken Haiti flooded television screens in January, Dr. Ken Adams of Dallas couldn't resist the urge to help.

"I really felt called to go, and my wife said, 'go,'" he said.

Almost a year later, though, he stands accused by a judge in Haiti of kidnapping a baby boy – the same charge that resulted in the arrest of a fellow volunteer earlier this week.

"It's just ridiculous," Adams said.

The doctor said he was volunteering at a hospital, where the parents of a baby boy arrived seeking help.

"The baby was brought in in the middle of the night, dehydrated, malnourished, and kind of on the verge of death," Adams said.

After a violent aftershock sent hospital staff scrambling from their building, they returned to find the baby dead.

The following day, the boy's father came to see his child. Adams and a charity worker, Paul Waggoner, of Massachusetts, said they escorted the father to his baby son's body, which hospital staff had placed in a makeshift coffin made from a cardboard filing box.

"The baby was in there. (His) eyes were open and (his) mouth was open because rigor mortis had set in," Adams said.
"So, the father looked at the baby and said, "Wow, the baby looks like they're alive.'"

Adams said he checked again, but found no sign of a heartbeat.

"The lips were blue. The skin was grey and pale. And it was very obvious that the baby was not alive," he said.

But, the baby's father sought the advice of a local witch doctor, who disagreed.

"The witch doctor said that because the baby's eyes were still open, the baby was still alive, and 'the white people had him' and 'the white people were going to sell him'. And, based on that information, an arrest warrant was issued," Adams said.

Both Adams and Waggoner were charged with kidnapping the baby, whose body they say had already been cremated.

Both made it safely back to the United States, but thinking the case had been dismissed, Waggoner returned. This past Wednesday, police arrested him.

Now in a prison rampant with cholera, Waggoner must wait several months for a court-ordered investigation to be completed.

Conversely, Adams must decide what he'll do if called as a witness: Go to Haiti and risk jail himself, or abandon a friend in need.

"If Paul went to court, and I wasn't there to testify for him, and he winds up with 20 years in prison. I'm not sure I could live with that either," he said.

Adams has written an affidavit for the court, hoping it is enough. Online, meanwhile, supporters have fired up campaigns on Facebook and Twitter, urging U.S. leaders to get involved.

For now, the US State Department said it is visiting Waggoner to watch over his health and treatment, while friends at home pray he survives.

"I'm just so worried for his safety," said Adams.