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	Founder of Haitian Charity Gets 19? Years in Prison for Sexually Abusing Boys in His Care By Alaine Griffin The Hartford Courant December 21, 2010 http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-perlitz-haiti-abuse-sentencing-12220101221,0,2805260.story It wasn't easy for Robenson Gedeus to tell the sordid stories of how an American charity worker he once trusted traded sex with Haitian street boys for shelter, food and money. Several times Tuesday, the soft-spoken Gedeus dropped his head and wept as he told a federal judge and a rapt, packed courtroom how Douglas Christian Perlitz sexually abused nearly two dozen homeless boys — the same children Perlitz was supposed to be caring for in the charity he created, Project Pierre Toussaint. Gedeus' emotional words in U.S. District Court came as Perlitz, 40, formerly of Fairfield, was sentenced to 19? years in prison — the full sentence requested by prosecutors — for sexually abusing the boys. Through a Creole interpreter, Gedeus, an employee of the project, recalled how one boy shook and "his face turned colors" as he revealed embarrassing details of sex acts. One time, Gedeus said, he saw young boys going in and out of Perlitz's bedroom. And when he asked Perlitz about the boys' claims of abuse, Perlitz had one response: Who told you? "The kids would have a real bad time there if I told him," Gedeus said. "The situation in Haiti is very sad. There is a lot of poverty there. If somebody is paying for school and food for them, they don't want to lose that." Gedeus, however, did not have to speak for the victims. Six of them — now in their 20s — did it for themselves. They traveled to the United States and stood calmly at a podium before a judge in the spacious federal courtroom Tuesday, recalling their own trauma at the hands of the missionary they once looked up to. One young man, identified only as P.G., said Perlitz sexually assaulted him when he was 13 years old. "He said if I don't do it with him, I would never give you money for new sneakers," P.G. said through an interpreter. P.G. said he was embarrassed about what was happening, but he needed money to live. "Sometimes, I was forced to sleep on the street," he said. Another young man said that on his 17th birthday, Perlitz gave him soda and rum until he was drunk. After passing out, the young man said he awoke to find Perlitz molesting him. "He said, 'Don't tell anybody or I will throw you out on the street,' " the young man said. H.D. said he first had sex with Perlitz when he was 11 after his mother gave Perlitz permission to let the boy sleep at his home. He told the judge he couldn't remember how many times he had sex Perlitz because it happened so often. B.N. said Perlitz took him to the doctor when he was sick. After the visit, Perlitz asked the boy to sleep in his bed. When B.N. refused and slept on the floor, he later awoke and found Perlitz on the floor behind him. Cyrus Sibert, a Haitian journalist who aired the boys' stories on the radio and wrote articles about the abuse, said the victims' words "were powerful" and moving. "I couldn't stop crying listening to what they had to say," Sibert said outside the courtroom. U.S. District Judge Janet Bond Arterton told Perlitz that the United States "cherishes every child." Perlitz's "depraved conduct," she said, "makes this a horrific crime." Perlitz had pleaded guilty to a single charge of traveling abroad for illicit sexual purposes. But in sentencing Perlitz to 235 months in prison, Arterton said she had concluded that Perlitz victimized 16 people: the six who appeared in court and 10 others she identified from DVD interviews. "I find their stories so similar, and the kids so credible, that I accept their stories as true that they, too, are victims," Arterton said. The judge addressed the charitable work that Perlitz had done. "Yes, he did do all these good deeds," she said, but "if one supplies clean and safe water, and then poisons the well, was digging the well to begin with a good deed?" She said, "Mr. Perlitz started out his adult life with a deep sense of mission and purpose, but he went over to the dark side." Assistant U.S Attorney Krishna Patel, whose aggressive closing statements elicited cheers and applause from the crowded courtroom gallery, hailed the "strength and courage of the victims who came forward." She said she was pleased with the sentence and said this story is an inspiration for victims to come forward. Ezili Danto, an attorney who handles human rights cases in Haiti, said, "Today is an amazing day. … It will go toward the healing and make the victims feel that their lives really do mean something." Before he was sentenced, Perlitz, wearing glasses, a tie and navy V-neck sweater, carried a yellow legal pad to the same podium as his victims. He asked the judge for leniency and told her he accepted responsibility for his actions. He admitted betraying the trust of supporters, students and others he knows in Haiti's north coast city of Cap-Haitien, where the project was based. Then he turned to face his accusers, seated toward the front of the gallery. Resting his elbows on the podium, Perlitz addressed the victims in Creole, with an interpreter translating for the court. "Even if you can't forgive me, I hope you can find the strength to live without pain, without a heavy heart," Perlitz said. "There's a spot in your heart that really hurts and it's me that caused that." In the middle of his address, a spectator yelled out, "How many did you rape?" The judge held her index finger in the air for quiet, and Perlitz resumed. "The most frustrating thing in the world to have is regret," Perlitz said. "I think about it every day. At times, I would rather die than carry this burden." The guilty plea to a single offense was part of a broader plea agreement that ends a yearlong prosecution of Perlitz. As part of the plea bargain, Perlitz admitted traveling to Haiti repeatedly between 2001 and 2008 and engaging in illicit sexual contact with eight boys. He previously denied his guilt and aggressively fought the charges. Project Pierre Toussaint, based in the second-most populous city in the hemisphere's poorest country, offered young boys homes, food, clothing and basic education. It was financed through the Haiti Fund Inc., a registered Connecticut charity. Directors of the Haiti Fund were appointed by the Rev. Paul Carrier, former director of campus ministries at Fairfield University. Carrier and Perlitz, a Fairfield graduate, were friends. A Fairfield University spokesman has said the school has no official tie to the Perlitz charity, but alumni have said graduates and staff contributed generously. Although the project no longer exists, Fairfield University and the Roman Catholic Order of Malta plan to contribute $850,000 to help pay for necessities, counseling and education for the victims, said Ruth Moore, coordinator of Speak Truth to Power, a Massachusetts-based group that supports sexual-abuse victims. Her group and others have raised money for the Haitian victims since the demise of the project, she said. Moore said she went to Tuesday's sentencing with six Christmas cards for the young men. "And there's some money in them," Moore said. She said donors want to help the victims heal. Perlitz's lawyers, William F. Dow III and David T. Grudberg, declined to comment after Tuesday's hearing. In court, Dow argued for leniency, pointing to letters of support for Perlitz and noting years of charitable work that Perlitz did in the United State as well as abroad. Dow said Perlitz "took people who were lower than dirt … scourges of society … and lifted them up," comments that prompted angry gasps from Haitian citizens and members of social service groups in attendance. "Imagine the failure he must be feeling having set out to be the next Mother Teresa. He defined himself on that. He failed," Dow said. Federal prosecutors have made Perlitz a high-profile example of what they say is the government's commitment to prosecute U.S. citizens who travel to third-world countries for illicit sex. Outside the courthouse, Bruce Foucart, head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's New England Office of Customs and Immigration in Boston, said he hopes Tuesday's sentence "sends a message" to potential sexual predators. "Other Americans who prey upon people in third-world countries will be prosecuted too," he said. Perlitz is in a federal prison in Rhode Island, awaiting a permanent assignment. Contact: agriffin@courant.com
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