Washington, D.C. - A fourth resident of Haiti, Lesley Merise, has pleaded guilty to taking a nine-year-old American girl hostage in Haiti, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Alice S. Fisher, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, U.S. Department of Justice, announced today.

Merise, 29, of Port au Prince, Haiti, pleaded guilty today to the hostage-taking charge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable John D. Bates. Sentencing is set for December 10, 2007. The nine-year-old victim, who is a U.S. citizen, had been living with her family in the area of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The defendant faces a maximum sentence up to life imprisonment under the hostage-taking statute. He was arrested in March 2007 in Haiti and brought to the United States. In December 2005, two other coconspirators, Yves Jean Louis, 24, and Ernso Louis, 19, both of Haiti, pleaded guilty in connection with this hostage-taking. In May 2006, conspirator Phito Cajuste, 24, of Haiti entered a guilty plea in this matter. Sentencing dates have yet to be set in any of the three cases.

The ordeal for the little girl began in the early morning hours of September 26, 2005, when Lesley Merise, Yves Jean Louis, Ernso Louis and Phito Cajuste abducted the girl from her bed, after having invaded the family’s home. The girl was taken to a remote mountain location and held there for more than one week, during which time she became ill. The girl was told repeatedly that if she told anyone or tried to escape, she would be killed. During that time, the hostage-takers made demands for ransom, starting at $200,000 in U.S. dollars. A citizen passing through the area where the girl was being held became aware of her presence and alerted the authorities. The girl was rescued on October 4, 2005. The authorities apprehended Ernso Louis at the scene and located Yves Jean Louis a short while later. Phito Cajuste was arrested in late February, 2006 in Haiti. Further investigation resulted in the arrest of Lesley Merise in March of this year.

In announcing the guilty plea in the Merise case, U.S. Attorney Taylor and Assistant Attorney General Fisher praised the hard work of the FBI’s Extraterritorial Squad, in particular lead case agent Oscar Montoto and agents Carlos Monero, Kenith Jett and Ed Cruz, the Evidence Response Team, and the FBI Miami Special Weapons and Tactics Squad, all based in Miami, FBI Legal Attache Andrew Diaz and ALAT Joseph Jeziorski based in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the Haitian National Police and the United Nations Civil Police, the Haitian Ministry of Justice, the ICE Office in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and the staff of the U.S. Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti. Furthermore, they acknowledged the efforts of victim witness advocate Veronica Vaughan of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanne M. Hauch and Trial Attorney Thomas P. Swanton of the Counterterrorism Section of the Criminal Division of the Department of Justice.

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