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Laura Silsby has been sued by eight creditors and the state Department of Labor reports 14 claims against her for unpaid wages by employees of PersonalShopper, an Internet business she founded in 1999, the Idaho Statesman said. She has received nine traffic citations since 1997, four of them for failing to insure a vehicle or to register it, the newspaper said.

In 2007, Silsby bought a Meridian house where she founded the non-profit New Life Children's Refuge in November. She lost the house to foreclosure.

Mel Coulter, whose daughter, Charisa, 24, worked for Silsby as a nanny, said Silsby became involved three years ago in founding an orphanage for Haitian and Dominican children. Coulter said Silsby recruited other members of Central Valley Baptist Church, including Charisa, to work for New Life Children's Refuge.

"The folks in the church embraced their vision, and it became a shared vision", Mel Coulter said. "The church made it part of their missions program."

Silsby and the rest of her group allegedly tried to take 33 children across the border to the Dominican Republic without authorization. While group members say they were simply trying to get the children to the safety of their orphanage in Santo Domingo, authorities say they flouted laws aimed at protecting children from traffickers and from involuntary separation from their families.

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