Walton County Man In Haitian Jail On Kidnapping Charges

DeFuniak Springs native Paul Waggoner may be spending his Christmas holiday sitting in a Haitian prison; jailed on kidnapping charges. His troubles began when he was working as a medical relief worker after the January earthquakes in Haiti.  His sister Randi Lightner said Waggoner couldn’t resist going to there after the news of the earthquakes broke.

“It’s one of those things that just touched him,” Lightner said of the images on television.

“There’s something in all of our lives I think that really touches us more than other things, and I think he felt like he could help there. And he has helped there.”

Waggoner’s previous run-ins with the law include assault charges in Massachusettes.  But Lightner said those charges were “completely irrelevant” to his present situation.  It all started shortly after the quake, when Waggoner reportedly aided a Haitian father in indentifying his deceased infant son.  When it was over, a death certificate was filed and the remains cremated.  But later the father said his son hadn’t in fact died, and Waggoner and others present for the identification were summoned to a Haitian court.  Waggoner said he fled the country for fear of unjustified charges.  He said he decided to return to the country when told they were dropped.

Recently Waggoner ran into the deceased infant’s father, who had him arrested on kidnapping charges.  Waggoner has been imprisoned since December 12.  He was later moved to a notoriously overcrowded and diseased Haitian penitentiary.  His sister still lives in Defuniak Springs, and she said she’s been making non-stop phone calls to government offices.

“I didn’t get much information, just that they did see him yesterday for about 30 minutes,” Lightner said of the phone calls.

“[Today] was the first contact by any US official since December 15th.”

Lighner said she’s hoping pressure from media outlets and elected officials will get her brother out of the country.  She said she’s heard he’s in bad health, and fears he may catch a disease while in jail.  At the very least, she knows he’ll probably miss Christmas in DeFuniak Springs for only the second time in his life.

“Right now, it’s not going to be possible that he’s in our living room for Christmas,” Lighner said.

“We know that. The best we can hope for right now is that by Christmas day he’s at least in an American hospital, he needs medical attention.”