James"Thunder"Early
02-19-2006, 12:35 PM
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-021006humanhead_wr,0,5169612.story?coll=la-story-footer&track=morenews
From the Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida
-- A Haitian woman faces federal charges after baggage screeners found a human skull with teeth, hair and skin in her checked luggage at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, authorities said Friday.
Myrlene Severe, 30, a permanent U.S. resident, arrived Thursday afternoon from Cap Haitien, Haiti, aboard Lynx International Airlines Flight 210, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.
Customs and Border Protection officials "found a human head with organic matter inside of her checked baggage," ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.
Severe told authorities "she had obtained the package, which contained the human head, from a male in Haiti for ... use as a part of her Voodoo beliefs. Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," Hernandez wrote.
The criminal complaint filed Friday charges Severe with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation, failure to declare the head and transporting hazardous material in air commerce.
From the Associated Press
FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida
-- A Haitian woman faces federal charges after baggage screeners found a human skull with teeth, hair and skin in her checked luggage at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, authorities said Friday.
Myrlene Severe, 30, a permanent U.S. resident, arrived Thursday afternoon from Cap Haitien, Haiti, aboard Lynx International Airlines Flight 210, said Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami.
Customs and Border Protection officials "found a human head with organic matter inside of her checked baggage," ICE Special Agent Erick Hernandez wrote in an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint.
Severe told authorities "she had obtained the package, which contained the human head, from a male in Haiti for ... use as a part of her Voodoo beliefs. Severe also stated that the purpose of the package was to ward off evil spirits," Hernandez wrote.
The criminal complaint filed Friday charges Severe with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation, failure to declare the head and transporting hazardous material in air commerce.