SANTO DOMINGO: The man providing legal advice to American church workers charged with trying to take children out of Haiti may have a string of legal charges against him in the US and has emerged as the key suspect in a child prostitution ring in El Salvador.

The mother and stepfather of Jorge Anibal Torres Puello told The Miami Herald on Saturday that the fugitive wanted by Salvadorean police was their son, who has been advising the church volunteers.

Jorge Anibal Torres Puello. Credit:AP

''That's him,'' Ana Puello said from her modest home in the outskirts of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. ''But those things they say about him, I doubt they're true … He told me, 'Mami, I swear I didn't.' He would never hurt a child.''

Though his wife was convicted in the case, Mr Torres Puello left the country - wanted by Salvadorean police - before ending up in Haiti. A self-styled lawyer with no law degree, he has had other brushes with the law, including a charge in Miami in 1999 for possessing fake documents, records show. His bond was later revoked and a warrant issued for his arrest.