Florida Doctor Arrested In Haiti, Suspected To Be A Ringleader In Moise Assassination

Haitian police have arrested a doctor, who has had ties to Florida for more than 20 years, as one of the suspected the masterminds behind the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.

Haiti National Police Chief Léon Charles said “the Haitian (doctor) recruited” the men who carried out Moïse’s assassination last week, the Miami Herald reported. Charles did not identify Sanon by name but the doctor was identified by multiple media outlets as Christian Emmanuel Sanon. International Business Times could not independently verify this information.

The Herald noted that Sanon has registered multiple businesses in the state, from the Tampa Bay area to South Florida, but most of the businesses are inactive. Sanon has no medical license listed in Florida, and court records referred to him as a practitioner in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Charles said Sanon “made contact with two other people who are implicated” in the case.

Nineteen of the 26 people linked to the assassination plot have been taken into custody, the New York Post reported.

Sanon is the third Haitian-American suspect in the assassination of Moise. Two others, James Solages and Joseph Vincent, were arrested earlier.

Before Sanon’s arrest, Charles had already alluded to the Florida-based doctor’s involvement in the case, although the Haitian police chief did not mention the suspect’s name directly.

Charles referenced Miami-based CTU Security as the group that Sanon allegedly recruited for the assassination, and that the CTU hired Colombians to carry out the plan.

Besides suggesting that Sanon was a ringleader in Moïse’s assassination, Charles also said that he believes the 63-year-old doctor wanted to run for the presidency.

Sanon had filed for bankruptcy in 2013, which raises some questions about how he could have been involved in a high-profile conspiracy that would have demanded considerable funds. During his bankruptcy filing, Sanon switched addresses twice.

The New York Times reported that on Sunday, investigators sent by the U.S. government arrived in Haiti to assist in the investigations.

Pentagon Press Secretary John Kirby said the U.S. government’s focus at the moment is to help Haitian investigators in the assassination probe. On Saturday, the Haitian government under acting president Claude Joseph requested troops from the UN and the U.S., BBC reported.

The White House is still reviewing the request. It is unclear how the United Nations will respond to the request but U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after the assassination that the U.N. “will continue to stand with the government and the people of Haiti.”

Meanwhile, some people have raised questions about the credibility of information released by the remaining government. Former lawmaker and opposition politician Steven Benoit told CNN that the detained suspects could have been turned into scapegoats.

But Benoit admitted that he had no evidence to support his theory. The former lawmaker will testify before the state prosecutor this week.

Moïse was gunned down in his home Wednesday. His wife, Martine Marie Etienne Moïse, was injured during the attack.