and we are waiting that response . '' A senior State Department official told CNN Friday the charges were dropped , but deferred questions to Haiti 's government , saying `` this was a Haitian decision . '' On Thursday , Saint-Vil could not be reached for comment and Manes declined to respond to CNN 's questions until he could do so in person on Friday . Authorities in Port-au-Prince , Haiti , accused the group , many of whom belong to a Baptist church in Idaho , of trying to kidnap 33 Haitian children after an earthquake in January leveled much of the capital and surrounding areas . The Rev. Clint Henry of the Central Valley Baptist Church said the missionaries were notified by a State Department e-mail that the charges were dropped and no other charges were pending . Meanwhile , Manes said his office received the documents pertaining to Saint-Vil 's investigation and that his staff has five days to derive an opinion , which will remain confidential , on whether to move forward on a trial or dismiss the charges . At that point the case will be returned to the judge for a final decision
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Haiti 's top prosecutor on Friday denied reports that charges have been dropped against nine of the 10 American missionaries accused of kidnapping children after a devastating earthquake hit the nation in January . Attorney General Joseph Manes was responding to news from the office of U.S. Sen Jim Risch , R-Idaho , whose staff on Thursday said the charges had been dropped against all but one of the Baptist missionaries . Group leader Laura Silsby remains in a Haitian jail . Risch spokesman Kyle Hines said the senator had been contacted by officials at the U.S. State Department , confirming that the kidnapping charges against the other nine were dropped . However , Manes said that information was `` absolutely incorrect . '' He said that under Haitian law , all charges against the 10 Americans stand until the examining judge , Bernard Saint-Vil , renders his final decision on whether to proceed to trial . Risch 's communications director , Brad Hoaglun , said : `` We are standing by what we were orginally told by the State Department . We did , however , ask the State Department to reconfirm for us ,