Haitian Doctor In FL Detained After Moïse Assassination: Report

SOUTH FLORIDA — A Haitian doctor living in South Florida was detained and accused of participating in the assassination of Haiti’s President Jovenel Moïse early Wednesday.

Haitian National Police Chief Léon Charles said 63-year-old Christian Emmanuel Sanon was one of the leaders of the assassination plot, the Miami Herald reported.

Two Haitian Americans from South Florida and 26 Colombians have also been arrested by Haitian police. One of the suspects contacted Sanon after being arrested, reports said.

Sanon, who flew to Haiti in June on a private plane, had political motives, Forbes reported. The doctor planned to take over the country as president after Moïse’s death and hired assassins through a private security firm, reports said.

The two Haitian Americans arrested in the plot — James J. Solages, 35, and Vincent Joseph, 55 — say they were working as translators for the assassins and weren’t present when the killing took place, according to reports.

When searching Sanon’s house in Haiti, authorities found a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency hat, 20 boxes of bullets, four vehicle license plates from the Dominican Republic, a box of cartridges and six pistol holsters, Forbes said.

Sanon lived in Brandon before moving to South Florida — first to Hollywood, and later Boynton Beach — after filing for bankruptcy, the Herald reported.