Associated Press
 
February 4, 2010
 
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti -- Ten members of an Idaho-based missionary group are facing charges that could bring lengthy prison sentences.
 
They were charged today in Haiti with child kidnapping.
 
The group was arrested Friday at Haiti's border as they tried to drive 33 children out of the earthquake-ravaged country. The group's leader says they were trying to take orphans and abandoned children to an orphanage in the Dominican Republic, though she acknowledged they may not have had the necessary paperwork.
 
Officials say many of the children still have parents.
 
After a court hearing today, their Haitian lawyer said there won't be an open trial. Instead, a judge will consider the evidence and could issue a verdict in about three months.
 
Each kidnapping count carries a sentence of up to 15 years in prison. The 10 U.S. citizens are also charged with criminal association, with as much as nine years in prison possible if convicted.
 
The State Department says it's monitoring the case and is open to discussing "other legal avenues" for the defendants. Haiti's prime minister has suggested the 10 could be sent back to the U.S. for prosecution.