U.S. missionary released in Haiti

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – An American missionary who was abruptly jailed in southern Haiti and held without charges for five months was just as suddenly released, he said Wednesday.

Danny Pye, 29, a Christian pastor who runs an orphanage with his wife in the southern city of Jacmel, said the same judge who jailed him in October signed his release order Tuesday.

Judge Maxon Samdi initially jailed Pye over claims he took property from another group of missionaries, former associates with whom he split following a dispute last year. He was briefly released on Christmas Eve, then re-arrested and jailed on suspicion of having an invalid residency card.